Zuma's Fear
by HavocHound
Summary: Out of all the pups in Paw Patrol, Zuma seems to be the most fearless of them all. Nobody really knows what he is afraid of and most of the time he seems cool and relaxed. But the truth is Zuma has a fear, one that is tied to a dark past that is filled with nothing but terror. And that terror is making its way to Adventure Bay.
1. What Is Zuma Afraid Off?

_**AN: So here is my next Paw Patrol fanfic. This one is a lot more violent than my previous one and, in many cases, downright cruel and scary. So expect a lot of things to dark in this story and a lot of sad moments as well. I think after this story I'll do something more positive just too even things out.**_

_**Also, if people want, I can make this Zuma x Rocky. I didn't think about it at first, but looking at the story (and in the episodes) I find Zuma and Rocky to be very close. Kinda like Marshall and Chase. They can be best friends/brothers like I did with Chase and Marshall in my last story or I can make them a romantic couple. You make the call. **_

_**Enjoy.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

Down at the Lookout of Adventure Bay, the six pups of Paw Patrol were doing their weekly athletics tournament. Every week, the pups did this not only to stay in shape for their duties, but to also have fun as well. Each pup had their own special skill they were great at: Marshall was the fastest runner, Skye was the highest jumper, Zuma was the best swimmer, Chase was the best climber, Rocky had the best balance, and Rubble was the strongest lifter.

At the moment, Rocky and Rubble were preparing for the obstacle course while Chase held the black and white flag. The two pups readied themselves as Chase raised the flag. The other pup barked in anticipation as they counted down. "Three! Two! One! _Go!"_

Chase brought down the flag, the two pups howling as they raced down the field. They first headed towards the tire tracks where they jumped from each one before heading towards the trampoline. Nearby was a rope, tired to a tree branch that they had to swing from to a box on the other side to land on. Rocky was able to bounce first and grab on, even doing a Tarzan yell as he sailed in the air before landing on the box. Rubble jumped and followed right behind him.

"Can't catch me, Rubble!" shouted Rocky with a laugh, but his cry was cut short when he tripped over a snail in his path and landed on his back. The snail managed to sail in the air and land on his nose making the others rear back at the gross sight.

Rubble ran past Rocky, laughing all the way. "What was that, slow poke? That snail suits you!"

Rocky growled and jumped back onto his paws to chase after the bulldog. They were now heading for a large log that they had to run through while dealing with a slippery wax that had been placed on the bottom. Rocky had no trouble, bur Rubble found it hard to stay standing. Just as they were about to reach the end of the log, Rubble spotted something and gasped. "Spider!"

Indeed, a large daddy long leg was dandling on a web string in front of the exit. Rubble grinded his paws to a halt, but ended up getting bumped in the back by Rocky. The two tumbled out of the log and into a small dog pile as the spider, knockd off it's string, landed on Rubble's nose.

"Ah! Get it off! Get it off!" shouted Rubble, jumping off and shaking his head. The spider eventually got free and skittered away. "Ewww! Spider cooties!" Rubble then proceeded to wipe his nose on the grass much to the laughter of the others.

Rocky, grunting, got up and shook his head. "It was just a small spider. Besides, that kind isn't deadly."

"Doesn't matter! It was still creepy," said Rubble, shivering. "Ugh, I hate spiders."

"I can't believe such a strong pup like you is so afraid of little spiders," laughed Rocky, earning a glare in return.

"Says the pup that hates water, and lives near a bay?" countered Rubble with a jab that made Rocky blush.

"Touché."

Skye walked over and put her paw on her friend's shoulder. "It's okay, Rubble. All of us are afraid of something. Remember when we helped Alex with the dentist? We all learned of what we were afraid of."

Rubble was about to agree until something click in hi head. "Wait a minute. We never found out what Zuma's fear was."

Everyone turned to the water rescue pup who just smirked. "That's because I'm not afwaid of anything. I'm the bwavest pup in all of Adventuwe Bay!"

"Seriously? You're not scared of spiders, snakes, rats, or skunks?" asked Rubble.

"Nope."

"What about heights?" asked Marshall.

"Nah, I like flying, dude. Not as much as swimming, but its weally cool."

"Okay, ghosts?" pointed out Chase. "You were really spooked at Halloween."

"Dude, evewyone was spooked at Halloween, that's not a fair one. Face it, out of all you pups, I'm feawless." said Zuma, puffing out his chest before he let out a yawn. He turned around to head for his pup house. "I'm beat from all this. I'm gonna take a nap."

The others watched the labrador walk away, but they looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Hey, does anybody really know why Ryder didn't pick Zuma that day? I mean, it kind of seems unfair that we all went but Zuma," said Chase.

"Maybe Ryder doesn't know what he's afraid of?" suggested Marshall, scratching his ears. "I mean I don't. Does anybody?"

"Me neither."

"Same here."

"I… don't really know."

"Nope."

The five blinked upon realizing they didn't know anything about what Zuma was afraid off. "Huh, this is weird. I mean we all knew each other's fears for a long time. Even Ryder's fear wasn't new to us," pointed out Chase as he rubbed his chin. "This is a bit suspicious."

"What is?" asked Rubble.

"Well," Chase started to pace around, his eyes in deep concentration. "What do we know about Zuma? I mean, _really_ know about him? Like, where did he come from and stuff?" He pointed to himself and then at Marshall. "Marshall and I were adopted by Ryder around the same time. We practically were raised by him."

"That kind of makes us brothers, eh?" asked Marshall, nudging his friend with a grin. "Although, I'm the big brother since I'm older then you."

"And yet you still sleep with a teddy bear," chuckled Chase.

"Leave Mr. Snuggles out of this!" argued a blushing Marshall.

"I'm from a family of flying stunt pups," said Skye with pride as she flipped through the air. "I just always thought being a rescue pup was cooler then stunts. Plus, helping people is a great feeling."

"Well, you know me," said Rubble, shrugging his shoulders. "I never knew my folks. I just wandered around ever since I could remember."

"And… well, you know about me," muttered Rocky, looking away with anger and sadness in his eyes. The others respectful said nothing to the mixed breed that had the one tragic story out of all of them. Rocky himself tried to push away the memories of the cruel owner he once had, and the many times he was abused until he was rescued by animal police. It took months to heal from those scars, but thanks to Ryder he never had to worry about such a thing happening again.

"Right, so what about Zuma?" asked Chase, again. "He was before Rubble joined us, but all Ryder said was that he found him and brought him home."

"Why does it matter? Zuma probably had a good reason for not telling anyone," said Rocky, getting a bad feeling about this. Zuma was his best friend and he didn't feel like digging into his past." "I mean, if it was something bad, doesn't he deserve a chance to come forward with it on his own? Remember how long it took me?"

"Do you think it might be bad?" asked Skye with a worried face.

Rocky bit his lip, but didn't say anything. If anything, he _knew _it had to be bad from personal experience. It was back during the week when Zuma first arrived…

* * *

While it was no hidden secret that Rocky hated anything to do with water, even he had to drink it from time to time. Drinking water was fine, it was going into his mouth instead of his fur and he needed it to survive. Any other type of water, however, he wanted to be as far away as possible. Still, when one's mouth is dry as a desert in the middle of the night, you tend to obey your thirst.

Waking up from his dream, Rocky yawn and smacked his lips together a bit before walking to his water bowl for a quick drink. With half-open eyelids, he reached down to lap a few licks, but found nothing in his bowl. Rubbing his eyes, Rocky saw that it held no water, making him groan. "Great, now what?" he whispered to himself, careful not to wake the other pups.

He didn't want to wake anyone else for something as simple as a drink of water, but where could he get some? The idea came to him a split second later. _Oh, yeah. The toilet bowl! I'm just gonna have to make sure no pup, or Ryder, knows I did this. _

Tiptoeing past Marshall's pup house, he entered the Lookout, and made his way to the nearby bathroom. After a few silent, but quick, drinks, he made his way back to the entrance when he heard someone moaning. Rocky perked his ears up as he soon picked up the sound of crying, and wondered who it could be in the Lookout's lower level. Only Ryder slept in the Lookout, and he lived on the second floor.

"…no… get away… please stop… stop it…" whispered the tiny voice.

Inching closer to the living room, Rocky spotted a figure, lying in a blanket on the couch, kicking the air while tossing side to side. He then remembered who it was upon getting closer and seeing his figure. It was the new pup, Zuma. He had only been here for a few days with Ryder announcing he was going to be the new water rescue pup. He and the others tried to get friendly with Zuma, but the young pup was shy and didn't speak much or play. He was always alone. The only reason he was sleeping in the Lookout was because Ryder was still working on his custom pup house which would turn into a hovercraft.

Rocky chalked it up to being just nervous. He was the same way seven months ago when Ryder brought him here. _Still, it looks like he's having a really bad nightmare._

Deciding not to leave the new pup in his trouble state, Rocky jumped onto the couch and began to shake the troubled sleeper. "Hey, Zuma? Wake up, you're just dreaming."

"Gah!" shouted Zuma, looking around as if he has seen a ghost. When he saw who it was that woke up him, he took a deep breath and relaxed. "Oh, Wocky. It's you…" Rocky giggled upon hearing his name spoken like that. He, like the others, found the little pup's speech impairment to be adorable. "What awe you doing here?"

"I heard you having a nightmare, mind if I sit next to you?" asked Rocky, giving him a comforting smile.

Zuma hesitated at first, but he nodded and made room for the older mixed breed. The two sat there in the silent dark, letting time slip past them.

Finally, Zuma sighed and looked down in shame. "I bet you think I'm a big baby, huh?"

"Why would I think that?" asked Rocky, raising his eyebrow.

"Well," Zuma rubbed the back of his head. "Aren't we supposed to be bwave wescue pups? It doesn't look very bwave when you have a nightmare…"

"Hey, we all get nightmares," said Rocky, put a paw on the rookie's shoulder. "Nightmares can't hurt you, Zuma. They're just like watching scary movies."

"… but it was more thana dweam, Wocky," muttered Zuma, closing his eyes as a tear dripped down. "It was a memory."

This got Rocky's attention. _A memory? Must have been pretty bad for him to have been acting like that. What happened to him? Is he… like me?_

"I bet you wanna know now, huh?" asked Zuma.

"… no, you don't have to tell me," answered Rocky, which made Zuma turn his head in surprise. "Believe me, I know what it's like to go through something bad in your life, and not want to think about it."

"W-what happened to you?" asked Zuma, before wincing. "S-sorry, if I'm not willing to tell it wouldn't be fair if-"

"Naw." Rocky put his paw on Zuma's making the younger pup blush. "It's okay. I'm… learning to talk about what happened to me." Taking a deep breath, Rocky looked out at the stars from a nearby window as he thought about his past life. "My old owner? He used to be a good man. We were the best of pals, and did everything together. But that all changed when he lost his job. He got angry… and drunk. I had to clean the place up while he kept hanging out at bars, wasting what little money we had." It was during that time that he found his love of recycling and turning old stuff into new stuff. His old owner called it stupid, thinking it was wasting time. Ryder said he was like the dog version of MacGyver.

"Did he… huwt you?" asked Zuma, softly.

Now it was Rocky's turn to let out a tear. "Yes." He wiped it away and continued, "He beat me at times when he was really drunk. Then he would apologize later and said he still loved me. I believed him until one day, he got really drunk. Turns out we were broke. He blamed me for everything. Took me to the tub and… held me underwater." Rocky growled as he remembered the feeling of water entering his lungs, slowly taking his breathe away as he waited for the end to come. It was because of that day that he felt his brain screaming for help every time he was wet.

"How did you get out of there?" asked Zuma, inching closer with amazement.

"I played dead. Convinced my owner he killed me. He just left me there on the floor to rot," spat Rocky, cursing his former owner. He may have loved him once, but that day he let what little love he had die. "I ran to a neighbor after he fell asleep and he called the authorities. My owner was arrested and put in jail, and I was sent into a foster care system until Ryder took me in."

And Rocky didn't care if his owner was sorry or not. He was glad he would never have to smell his fowl breath or his rambling about the injustices against him when he could have gotten another job easily. No, he wasn't going to pity the man who tried to kill him, no matter what excuse he gave. He had Ryder. He had the pups. And he swore to never let anyone feel as helpless as he did back then. Turning to Zuma, Rocky gave him a smile and patted him on the head. "I still get nightmares too, but then I remember that I'm surrounded by my friends who love me, and it goes away. You should think the same thing."

Zuma nodded, showing a small smile. "Okay, Wocky." Rocky was about to head out when Zuma grabbed his paw, blushing again. "Um, Wocky? D-d-do you think… you can stay with me tonight? I… I don't want to be alone…"

Rocky nodded and snuggled next to Zuma, holding him tight as the two slowly fell asleep next to each other.

* * *

"Hello? Earth to Rocky!" shouted Marshall, snapping the recycling pup out of his daydreaming. "You okay?"

"O-oh, yeah," said Rocky, finding his composure. "Just thinking. Anyway, let's just leave Zuma alone. It's his business after all."

"Yeah, you're right," said Chase, nodding his head. He then barked and shook his tail. "Who wants to play tag instead?!"

"Me!" shouted the other five pups as they began to chase after Chase.

* * *

***Meanwhile, in another location***

At this current moment, a prison transporter car was driving on route to bring its only cargo for court hearing which was to take place in a few hours. It was manned by two police officers in the front, while another holding a shotgun stood in the back, watching the prisoner who stood as still as doornail.

The prisoner was a dangerous one, who was listed with charges of murder, theft, robbery, assault, drugs, and more. He had a few dangerous friends too, and it was because of this that caution was being taken. A fake truck was being protected by cops while the news was airing the scene. The real truck was to take a longer, but quiet route to avoid suspicion.

"How much longer?" asked the prisoner, hidden in the shadows.

"Soon," said the guard, looking more and more nervous with each passing second. Sweat dripped down his bald head and he held his shotgun even closer to him.

"Relax, Officer Palmer. It's not _me _you should be worried about," said the prisoner, grinning as a gold tooth shined in the darkness.

Suddenly, the truck came to a screeching halt. The officer gulped while the prisoner wasn't even fazed. "What's the hold up, officers?" he asked with a mocking concerned voice.

"Nothing. Looks like some kind of accident blocking the road," said the driver as the sound of two doors opening followed.

The prisoner chuckled before slowly raising his hand, showing all five fingers as he counted down one by one. When the last one was up, four shots rang out in the air, spooking the cop as he held his gun closer. For a whole minute there was nothing.

Then light poured in upon the rear doors being open, revealing the prisoner as clear as the sun outside. He had a light bond hair that reached down to his end of his neck; a light green dye was on his bangs. His right ear had golden ear pricing and his arms were layered with tattoos and scars. Grinning, his eyes showed a hint of amusement as he got out where his posse was waiting for him, the guard right behind him.

His gang, consisting of four whites and two blacks, were dressed what you would normally find on your average street thug, holding pistols while they hollered their leader back. Stretching his arms out like he was a savior, the prisoner hugged each of his friends as they welcomed him back. One of the blacks, wearing a backwards Red Sock's cap, patted his buddy on the back. "Welcome back, Stone."

"Got my baby?" asked Stone as he was handed a black pocket knife. He pressed the switch and popped out the blade, caressing it like it was a priceless treasure. "Oh, I missed you so much, Shiva." He kissed it and began flipping it around.

The cop, nervously clearing his throat as all seven set of eyes glared at him, said, "We… we had a deal. I help you get freed. You'd free my family."

"Right, I forgot about that," said Stone, tapping his head with edge of his knife. "I kind of have a bad memory for being locked up for nearly two years." He walked over and wrapped his arm around the cops' neck. "I said I would have you meet you family again, Officer Palmer. And I never go back on my word."

Palmer ready to open his mouth, but all that came out was a gurgle as Stone shoved the pocket knife straight into his throat. He smiled as he twisted it further into the neck, watching blood drip down as Officer Palmer began to choke, struggling against the enviable while his eyes began to lose the light in them. Stone held on as he continued to inch the blade deeper. Whimpering into the officer's ear in his final moments, he said, "Be sure to say high to the wife and kids when you meet them."

He finally took out the knife and began to wipe the blood with his prisoner uniform as the dead body fell to the ground. One of the gangsters walked up and asked, "So what do we do now, boss?"

Stone smile as he began flipping the now clean knife. "First, I want some real food, better clothes… and then… well we start planning a little trip, boys."

"Where to?"

"Ever heard of a town called Adventure Bay?"


	2. A Water Rescue

_**AN: Wow, lot of love from the first chapter. Great to see. We're gonna see what's Zuma's fear is in this chapter. Also a question, which of the two is Ryder's actual "dog" dog, Chase or Marshall? It seems like Chase is the closest to Ryder and he is used the most on the show, but according to some wiki info there is indication that Marshall is his actual dog (the others I'm assuming he got at a later date). Does anybody know the canon 'cause I've been under the impression it was Chase, that's what I did with Marshall Gone Missing and since now I'm unsure I made it so that they both were owned by Ryder at the same time. Somebody please tell me?**_

_**Also this story takes place between Seasons 1 and 2. So Chase and Marshall have their secondary jobs and equipment, but Everest is not part of the team yet. Sorry Everest fans.**_

_**P.S. How do you like my new cover for the fic?**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

Zuma was relieved when he woke up the next morning and none of the others bought up the conversation about his fears again. Truth was, Zuma had a fear, but it was one that he didn't want to think about, much less talk on. He knew the others were just curious, but he wanted to make sure none of them knew about his fear. Or about _why _he was afraid of _it. _Pushing these thoughts aside, Zuma watched his friends from the top of the slide as Chase pushed Skye on a swingset before she jumped up and flipped in the air, landing safely. She would then get back on and Chase would continue to push, all with a blush on his cheeks. Marshall, Rubble, and Rocky were building sand castles in the sandbox. Well, more like Rubble and Rocky were as Marshall was pretending to be a monster by stomping on them with a bucket on his head.

Looking over the park and sunshine it made Zuma sigh with joy knowing that it was a perfect day to play and relax. _Maybe I'll head over to the sea later. Do a bit of swimming. Find some seashells… _His eyes widened as a realization hit him in the head like a soccer ball at mock speed. "Oh, man!" Zuma quickly slide down the slide and rushed over to Chase with worry in his eyes. "Chase! Hey, Chase!"

"Yeah?" asked Chase, stopping his pushing. "What's up, Zuma?"

"Dude, what day is it?!" asked Zuma, pacing himself a he got ready to rush out if today was indeed _that _day.

"Um, May 20th I think," recalled Chase. He was about to say something, but Zuma was already rushing out of the playground for the exit. "Hey! Where are you going?!"

"I got to head to the beach and do something! See you guys later!" cried out Zuma, but before he could press further, his tag beeped and Ryder's voice came out.

"_Paw Patrol! To the Lookout!"_

"Ryder needs us!" shouted everyone as they howled, following Zuma towards the direction of the lookout.

Although he was disappointed this happened, Zuma knew that his duties as a rescue pup came first and foremost. He took a promise not to let anyone who was defenseless, or in need of help, down and he was going to keep it. _Besides, I can always get the shells later after the wescue. And I might not be needed for it anyway!_

Running at full speed, and leading the pack, Zuma found himself heading into the Lookout's main doors with his friends right behind him. He turned around and counted all four of his friends-_wait, four?_

"Hey, where's Mawshall?" asked Zuma as he and the others looked around for their spotted pup friend.

"_Help! I can't see!" _

The alerted pups all faced forward and gasped as Marshall, whose eyes was covered by his sand bucket, headed straight for them. They tried to shout out a warning, but it was too late. Marshall ran into them, knocking them around until they were another heaping pile of pups stacked on top of each other. Again.

Marshall finally got the bucket off his head and looked around, laughing. "Fear me! I am the monster known as Marshall! Destroyer of sand castles and wrecker of pups! With the Paw Patrol defeated I can take over the world!"

"Before you do, can you get your butt out of my face?" asked Rocky, feeling uncomfortable.

"Of course!" shouted Marshall, dramatically as he turned his head over his shoulder with an evil smirk. At least until the elevator started moving and made him lose his balance.

After getting back on all four paws, the Paw Patrol arrived at their mini-locker rooms halfway up the Lookout's tower and started putting on their gear. The only difference was that Marshall had his new medical pup gear laid out for him instead of his usual fire pup gear. Ryder had the ability to change what gear was to be used based on certain missions, and if Marshall needed to be the medical pup that meant someone was hurt badly. Knowing this, they dressed up even quicker with the intention of helping whoever it was that called for help. Once they were dressed up, Skye hit the button for it to continue and they lined up in proper order with their minds focused on the upcoming mission. Arriving at the top, Chase and Rubble jumped out followed by Rocky and Zuma, then Skye and Marshall last. They stood in attention as a smiling Ryder held out his pup pad.

"Paw Patrol ready for action, Ryder, sir!" shouted Chase, putting his paw down.

Pressing a button on his pup pad, Ryder activated the big screen to come down and show them a picture of what looked to be two large boats slamming into each other with people inside them. Captain Turbot's boat was also nearby with him running around going "help help".

_Looks like a sea mission after all, _said Zuma, with a bit disappointment for having his time cut short, but he smirked and stood further in attention. _Well, guess it's time to get wet._

"Thanks for coming, pups," said Ryder with a smile before his face turned serious. "We have a major problem out in the bay. Two tourist boats have collided and are slowly sinking. Captain Turbot's been able to get some passages on-board his own boat, but he's running out of room. We need to help the rest of those passengers get off their boats safely, and make sure no one's hurt."

Ryder pressed another button as Zuma's pup tag appeared along with his hovercraft and another large boat. "Zuma, I need you to tie up one of the boats on the docks and drag it to the crash site so we can put the remaining passengers on board."

"Let's dive in!" shouted Zuma, stepping forward.

Ryder then brought up Marshall's pup tag and his medical pack. "Marshall, we may have some injured tourists who will need to be checked out. You'll ride on the boat Zuma's dragging. and bring your medical gear."

"I'm ready for a ruff ruff rescue!" shouted Marshall, giving a cheering howl.

Finally, Chase's symbol came up with his megaphone. "Chase, we're gonna have a lot of panicking people out in the bay. I need you to use your megaphone to help keep not only the passenger's calm, but help me guide them as well."

"Chase is on the case!" replied Chase, puffing his chest out.

"Alright, Paw Patrol is on a role!" shouted Ryder as the rest of the pups howled and cheered in response. Ryder headed for his sliding pole while Zuma, followed by Marshall and Chase, headed for the slide.

Zuma always loved this part as he slide down, raising his paws in the air while cheering at the speeds they were going. While Marshall was struggling to regain his balance, again, and Chase was howling, Zuma found himself landing in his pup house which soon transformed into his hovercraft. Turning the engine on, Zuma sped down the hill, followed by Marshall's EMT truck and Chase's police cruiser behind him. The lower garage also opened and Ryder headed out with his ATV.

"_We'll split up from here. Chase, you come with me to the edge of our dock and eject into my jet ski. Zuma and Marshall? You guys make your way to the other docks." _

"Roger, Ryder!" said the pups as they split up. Zuma watched as Chase soon ejected from his car, while Ryder quickly deployed his ATV into jet ski mode. He gave them a wave as they sailed away, leaving Zuma and Marshall to drive down to the docs.

* * *

It didn't take long for the duo to end up on the dock. Zuma drove for the water while Marshall got on one of the large boats. Wagging his tail, he leaned on the edge and barked. "Come on! We gotta hurry up and catch up with Ryder!"

"Arf! Arf! Buoy!" commanded Zuma as the front compartment of his hovercraft opened up, and shot out the life preserver and rope. Marshall grabbed it with his mouth and made sure to secure it on the boat's bow. "Hang on, dude!"

Zuma turned his vehicle around and pushed his paw on the gas as hard as he could, yipping with excitement as he sped down the water with the boat following right behind him. Marshall failed to take his friend's warning as he slipped back and ended up crashing into a fish bucket were the dead fish landed on his head. "I'm good… but kinda stinky…" he laughed before getting up and hanging on the boat, tongue flapping in the air.

After ten minutes of sailing, Zuma spotted the three boats and began to lower his speed. Ryder and Captain Turbot raised their hands in greetings as the boat was brought over. Zuma had to admit, things looked really bad. One ship had completely crashed into the middle of the other one as groaning tourists held their families together while covered in debris and cuts. Most of the tourists were on Captain Turbot's boat, but there looked to be very little room to maneuver. Up on the second floor was Chase, megaphone already out.

"_Attention passengers! Medical assistance has arrive along with a second boat! Please remain calm, and we'll be able to attend to your needs!" _announced Chase.

"Good job, pups. You came here just in time," said Ryder to his pups.

"Yeah, we got a messy megaton mess of a mishap!" shouted Captain Turbot.

"Zuma help me get the remaining passengers on the two crashed boats into the one you brought. Marshall, we got a lot of injured people here who could use your help."

"I'm on it Ryder!" shouted Marshall as he leaped over to Captain Turbot's boat and began asking everyone to get in a single line.

Zuma waited until Ryder was on-board before moving the boat to the first crashed one. Getting off, the two helped passengers get on, earning gratefulness from them. A little girl even petted Zuma and hugged him much to his joy. It was moments like these that he enjoyed being a rescue pup. Once the first boat of passengers had arrived on the new boat, Zuma got back on his hovercraft and was about to head to the other one. That's when Marshall called.

"_Ryder! Zuma! I smell gas and smoke from here coming from the other boat!"_

"_I smell it too!" _shouted Chase with worry.

"Smoke and gas… that would mean," whispered Ryder as a look of horror appeared on his face. "Zuma, quick we need-"

An explosion from the engine of the second boat sent out shock waves as a bursting fireball erupted and everyone screamed. Zuma managed to hang on in his seat, as did the passengers, but Ryder was flown out and landed in the water. "Wyder!" shouted Zuma with worry.

"I'm fine! Ack," spat out Ryder as he shook his wet head. "Get the other passengers! Hurry!"

Zuma nodded and drove forward, yelling the other passengers to hang on. The fire was starting to spread across both crash boats by the time Zuma arrived on the other side. "Evewyone on-boawd! Huwwy!"

The other passengers didn't need to be told twice as they rushed forward. However, just as the last one was seemingly on-board, someone shouted, "Look over there! Somebody's down!"

Zuma narrowed his eyes and saw what looked like a young adult male lying down, the fire only a few feet from him. Realizing he was unconscious, he ordered the other passengers to stay put as he jumped on board. Making his way to the knocked out man, he was about to grab him when he froze. Suddenly, nothing else in the world mattered as Zuma felt his entire body go cold upon what he saw; to the point where even his soul was frozen. The flames of the fire surrounding him couldn't even knock him out of his stunned state. His heart started beating faster and faster. He wasn't even sure he was breathing.

The man who lay before him has piece of wood dug deep into his back and legs, with second degree burns visible on his right side of his body from the explosion. And there was blood. Blood on his back, forehead, and limbs all forming into a small pool below him. Zuma started to sake as he saw that pool get bigger and bigger. And with it came the screams. Screams of horror, pain and pleading. Visions of furniture covered in blood with a knife cutting into the air, crimson raining down upon his head as he screamed. Screamed until his throat was burning, all for it to stop. But it wasn't stopping. The blood wasn't stopping.

"_Zuma! Wake up and get out of there!" _shouted Chase on the other end of his pup tag.

Zuma finally shook his head, but it was too late. Another explosion echoed in his ears. Before Zuma knew it he was screaming, flying in the air, before he landed in the water. He slowly started to sink as his eyes began to slowly shut. All he could think about as the water took him under was the names of those who he could hear screaming.

_Gweg… Mawsha… Shelly…_

* * *

Moaning, Zuma slowly opened his eyes only to see a white ceiling. He felt his entire body numb as he tried to remember what happened, but all he could feel was a headache pounding his brain.

"Hey! He's awake!"

Zuma turned around and saw his friends and Ryder rushing up to him with relief on their faces. "Guys? Where am I?"

"The hospital," answered Ryder, gently rubbing his pup on the head. "We rushed you here with the other tourists after Marshall got you out of the water. You've been unconscious for a few hours. Thankfully, nothing serious except for maybe a bit of a headache."

Zuma gave an understanding nod before his eyes widen. "That man! The one who was left on the boat! What happened to him?!"

Upon saying this, the group all looked at each other with sad eyes and worried expressions. Chase took of his police hat and placed it on his chest. "Zuma… I'm sorry, he… didn't make it. The second explosion got him…"

"You mean… he's… he's…" tears began to form in Zuma's eyes as he shook his head. "No… no no no no! Augh!"

He turned around in shame and, covering his head with his bedsheet, howling in sorrow. He failed. He failed to rescue someone. Ever since Paw Patrol had formed they had never lost a single casualty in any of their rescue missions. And Zuma had just brought in their first one.

"Zuma, it's alright," said Ryder, placing his hand on Zuma's side. "It wasn't your-"

"Yes it was, Wyder!" shouted Zuma, emerging from his blanket and growling at his owner. Tears dripping from his eyes, Zuma continued, "It was all my fault! I let him die because I fwoze up like a scawdy cat! All I had to do was dwag him to safety and he could be back home with his family! Only now they're gonna know that he died because of me! I let that man die, Wyder! I bwought our fiwst failure in Paw Patrol! And all because he was… was…"

Zuma gripped the side of his head as memories of three bodies, covered in red, with horrified faces flashed in his mind.

"… because what?" asked Rubble, too curious for his own good.

"_Because he was bleeding!" _screamed Zuma who began to yell and began to thrash in his bed, much to the horror of the pups. They had never seen their cool and collected friend act like this. "I couldn't save them! I couldn't save them, Wyder!_ I couldn't save them!" _

A look of realization appeared on Ryder's face as he grabbed Zuma and held him close, despite the pup's screaming and crying. He turned to the other pups. "I need you to leave, now."

"But Ryder, sir," said Chase, looking worried.

"_Chase," _issued Ryder with a rare serious tone. "I'll explain everything later. I… I need to keep Zuma calm…"

The others didn't know how he was going to do that when it looked like Zuma was having a nightmare while away. Still, the five obeyed and quickly left, shutting the door. They all stood by in a huddle, listening to the terrified screams of their friend which made their hearts weep. They wanted nothing more than to go help him, but they had their orders.

Finally, the screaming soon faded into a whimpering sob. None of the other pups knew it at first, but they soon realized they were all crying. Out of fear or because of the sadness in Zuma's tears they didn't know.

"Blood…" whispered Marshall, getting their attention. "He's… afraid of blood…"

This made all the other pups look at each other in fear. What could have happened to Zuma before he joined Paw Patrol that not only made him afraid of blood… but like this?

_Zuma… _thought Rocky as he stared at the door where his best friend was suffering in his mind.


	3. Fate Is a Bitch

_**AN: Hey everybody. I'm back. I forgot to mention that this isn't going to be a Rocky x Zuma romance; just a close friendship like it was for Marshall and Chase in Marshall Gone Missing. Anyway, in case people don't know there is going to be a third season of Paw Patrol so that's something to look forward to in the future. There's going to be new voice actors so I'm afraid of whom they might replace. Nothing else to say, enjoy the chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

He couldn't sleep.

He just couldn't. Not when he could still hear Zuma's screams in his ears. Rocky slowly got up and walked away from his pup house, making sure not to wake the others. He wished he was by Zuma's side right now, but Ryder ordered them to head home where he would explain everything in the morning. Rocky was going to hold him on that promise as soon as he came back, and he was sure the rest of the team would too. It had been very awkward to come back to the Lookout without either Ryder or Zuma, especially knowing the emotional state the latter was in.

Skye had retreated into her pup house and barley touched her dinner while Marshall tried to cheer everyone up by acting silly. It didn't last long. The only ones who seemed to be strong through this were Chase and Rubble. Chase was their leader, and he always did his best to make sure he was professional in a time of crisis. He personally fed them all and ordered them to get some sleep when night began. As for Rubble, the young pup was tougher than he looked. He kept saying that Zuma would be okay and once this was all over they could go back to normal. Of course, he still was a pup, and Rocky heard him crying in his sleep before hitting the hay himself.

Rocky himself didn't speak to anybody. All he could do was think about Zuma and the amount of pain he was going through. He wasn't sure if the others heard what Zuma said, but he picked up saying that "he couldn't save them".

Were these "them" important to Zuma like his family? How did it tie into his fear of blood? A few ideas came to Rocky, but none of them were good ones.

Walking down to the edge of the hill, the mixed breed looked up and watched the stars. They say that if you wish upon a star your wish would come true. He hadn't done that since he left his old owner when the stars never answered his wishes for him to get better. _Still, would it hurt to try again?_

"Starlight. Starbright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might. Have this wish I see tonight," muttered Rocky, closing his eyes and lowering his head. "Please let me help, Zuma. I don't care how, but let me help my best friend."

"Same here."

Rocky nearly gasped before turning around and spotting Chase with a sad smile on his muzzle. He chuckled, "Sorry, I saw you walking and figured I'd check to see if everything was okay."

"Couldn't sleep either?" asked Rocky to which Chase shook his head. "What about the others?"

"All sleeping, but it took them awhile," answered Chase as he sat down beside Rocky and looked to the stars. "I don't really believe in wishes, but I guess if they can help out Zuma then I'm willing to give it a shot."

The two friends sat in silence as they watched the stars twinkle in the sky. Sighing, Rocky growled, "I should have gone with him." Raising an eyebrow, Chase stared at him. "If I had gone with him, maybe I could have prevented him from getting scared and hurt."

"Rocky, Ryder didn't need you for the mission. There was no way any of us could have predicted this would happen," said Chase, patting his friend on the back. "Don't go asking yourself 'what if's' it's not healthy. Besides, would you have asked to go on a mission in the _water?"_

"If it meant helping you guys, yes!" shouted Rocky, surprising Chase. "Yes, I hate getting wet but I hate seeing my best friends hurt more! Especially Zuma!" A tear streaked down his cheek. "He… he's like a little brother to me, Chase. I care about him a lot, and knowing he's in this much pain without me by his side? It hurts. I can even say I hate Ryder for ordering me to do this…"

"Rocky," muttered Chase before he reached over and nuzzled him. "I know how you feel. I didn't want to obey that order either, but we have to trust him. I'm sure Ryder will tell us everything tomorrow." He gave a small smile. "So why don't you get some sleep?"

Rocky was about to say something when a yawn erupted from his throat. "Yeah… I guess I should. Good night, Chase."

"Night," he said as he followed the recycling pup until they split up to their respective houses.

* * *

Thirty-seven year old Detective Shaw hated his job when things went wrong. More often than not they did, and usually that resulted in the chief yelling at him for hours, threatening to take his badge if he ever crossed the line again. Of course, Shaw took it all in stride. With his performance record, the fat ass would never kick him off the force and everyone in the whole district knew it. He was the best damn cop in Costal City and the jailed criminals could tell you that.

Still, fate was a bitch to Shaw when things went wrong, like it was this morning as he woke up to the worst news of his life.

Damian Stone hadn't arrived at his trial hearing yesterday and only now, the next morning, they had found the truck that was supposed to be carrying him. Driving his green classic 1962 pontiac catalina (His old man's personal car that he received after his death), Shaw found himself in Standfort Woods where CSI and cops were all over the area. Shaw cursed as he took out a cigarette and lit up, breaking his three week streak of going through a single day without one. Getting out, he walked over to the crime scene were the prisoner truck was, along with three body bags.

"Stone anywhere?" asked Shaw to an officer who looked new to the force judging by his green looking face.

"No, sir. We haven't found his body, just… these three…" gulped the poor newbie who looked ready to lose his lunch. "Two of them were shot multiple times while the last one-"

"Had a pocket knife shoved into this neck?" asked Shaw, getting a quick nod in return. "Figures. That's his calling card. Goddamn, fat ass chief…"

"Sir?" asked the officer as the detective walked away.

Inhaling the smoke, Detective Shaw closed his eyes and wondered how in the name of the Lord himself he was still a religious person if crap like this happens. His cell soon rang and he already knew who it was. Answering it, he shouted, "Well, what do you want to hear, chief? The 'I told you so' or the fact we got three dead cops and a wanted man out doing God knows what."

"_I don't have time for your jokes, Shaw! I got everybody on my ass for this and if you don't give me something I swear you're fired!" _

_More like you will be, _thought Shaw, rolling his eyes. "Well, maybe if we went with the original plan and having him in that actual line of police protection instead of trying to trick his gang with a _single vehicle with only three cops _I think we might have been avoiding this situation."

"_You son of a… ugh, what do we do now?!"_

"Well, he's not going to be heading back to his crib; we got officers swarming the area. My guess is he's going to head somewhere else, but I don't know where…" answered Shaw, who was throwing his cigarette away. _We finally nailed this bastard and after a year and a half he's fricken loose again. Where the hell is Stone going?_

"Detective! We found something you should see!" shouted the officer from before.

Putting the call on hold, he walked over and saw the officer holding some kind of paper. Looking closer, Shaw saw that it was an article on Adventure Bay's Paw Patrol rescue squad. He recognized it because he knew the leader, Ryder, personally. After all, he was involved in the investigation along with-

"Oh crap," whispered Shaw as he eyed all the six pups shown on the paper except one was crossed out with a pencil. "Zuma…"

"Who?" asked the officer, but Detective Shaw was already heading for his car.

Once he was inside, he began to head back to the highway and drove as fast as he could with his lights on. "Chief!" he shouted on his phone. "I know where Stone is heading! He's heading to Adventure Bay! I need you to get every officer you can from Foggy Bottom to Eagleton involved. I'm heading there now!"

"_Why the hell would Stone go there?"_

"One word: revenge," was all Detective Shaw said before he hanged up and looked through his contacts for a person he hadn't talk to for a year and a half. He knew the kid was possible asleep, but this was important.

He waited for the dial to tone until he sighed in relief when he heard a tired voice yawn out, _"Ryder here… who is this?"_

"Ryder? It's Detective Shaw. Do you remember me?"

"_Detective Shaw? Yeah, I remember you. What's wrong?"_

"Is Zuma with you?" asked Shaw, praying he wasn't too late.

"_Yeah, he's with me? What's wrong?" _

Shaw sighed. "I got bad news…"

* * *

Much to the Pups shock, Ryder wasn't home by the time morning came. After eating some treats for breakfast, the pups waited inside the living room with bored expressions. They had tried on turning the TV on, but all that was going on was about some escaped prisoner or something. Eventually, Rocky had enough and got up. "That's it! I'm going to the hospital and find Ryder if he's not coming here."

The others looked at each other and nodded before heading to the door themselves. However, they soon heard the familiar sound of Ryder's ATV heading up the hill and barked in excitement as they saw him park in front of the lookout. However, when they saw him they quickly went silent. Ryder's face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot, worse yet it looked like he had seen a demon.

"Ryder, sir?" asked Chase, stepping forward with concern. "What happened?"

"It's… it's a long story, Chase," muttered Ryder, rubbing his temples. "Something happened and… I'm afraid we're going to be facing the biggest rescue in our lives."

"Rescue? Who are we rescuing?" asked Rubble.

"It's Zuma," muttered Ryder as he walked into the Lookout.

The others gasped as Rocky quickly asked, "Is he okay?"

"No…" muttered Ryder, sitting on one of the couches. "After what we just learned… he had a panic attack and had to stay at the hospital again."

"A panic attack?!" shouted the pups.

"Poor Zuma, but why did this happen?" asked Skye, biting her lip.

"What's going on Ryder? We need to know!" shouted Marshall, slamming his paw on the ground. "We've all been worried sick about Zuma, but we can't help him unless you tell us what is going on!"

All the pups stared at Ryder as he looked at them with sorrow in his eyes. "I promised Zuma to never tell you guys about his past unless he was ready, but it looks like we have no choice now." He sighed as leaned back against the couch, the pups all sitting down with full attention. "I told you that I found Zuma as an orphan down by Costal City, right? I lied." The others were a bit surprised by this since Ryder never lied to them before but they let him continue.

"I went there because I was trying to see if there were any adopted pups I could find for the team. We were missing a water and construction pup, and I at least wanted one of those filled before we started missions," explained Ryder. "Back then, Zuma had… a family. Two owners who were married, Greg and Marsha, and… a sister named, Shelly."


	4. The Past of Zuma Part 1

_**AN: So the next few chapters we'll be seeing will be flashbacks that explain the backstory of what happened with Zuma as well as a look of his life before Paw Patrol. Most of it will be from Zuma's point of view while others will be from Ryder or Detective Shaw. Now as a warning, I may have to bump up the rating to an T+ or M depending on what happens when we get to the gory scenes of this story. We don't have to worry about that now, but I do want to warn you guys. **_

_**I also might be working on a second story while doing this one. Most likely a one shot, but I don't know if it's going to be comedy or romance. I wanna try something positive since my other stories have been sad stuff.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

For as long as he could remember, all Zuma wanted to do was live by the sea. To him, it was like being at home despite not having fins, gills, or fish scales. He sometimes wondered if he was a fish in another life, before being born a dog. His earliest memories of his life were watching the sea outside of the pet adoption center in Costal City, seeing the waves crash against the beach and feeling the cool sea breeze against his face. That's why he was so excited to be adopted by Greg and Marsha when he learned they lived by the sea.

Floating in water, not too far from the beach, Zuma sighed and wished he could sink into the deep ocean floor and feel this sensation forever. Unbeknownst to him, a figure was swimming silently underwater straight on target. The chocolate labrador was all but deaf to the small paddles making its way toward him. His smile slowly began to disappear when his instincts began telling him something was amiss.

By the time he realized it, it was too late. The figure emerged from the water and tackled him. "Ha! You're dead!" shouted a female chocolate labrador that looked just liked Zuma, only she was female and had a bang of hair covering a bit of her left eye. She also had a necklace of seashells around her neck, each of them pretty and unique.

"Hey, we stopped play shawks and guppies ten minutes ago!" pouted Zuma, as he glared at his grinning sister.

"Shelly the Shark never stops when she's on the hunt!" proclaimed the other pup with a howl. The two pups laughed before they started splashing water at each other. "And it's 'sharks' not 'shawks', bro."

"Dude, come on," said Zuma as he pounded a big splash of water into his sister's face. "Hitting my speech impaiwment is a low blow. Want me to stawt dissing you for sleeping with a night light?"

"Okay, sorry dude," apologized Shelly with a smile.

Watching the pups play were swimmers, surfers, and even a few dogs that were out in the ocean with their masters. Everyone who came to this area of the beach knew of the two pups, and we're often seen as friends to everyone. It wasn't just them being playful and adorable that made them popular. Everyone knew their owners who were in charge of the Tiki Snack Shack in the middle of the beach which was a great place to hang out.

"Dudes! Look over there!" shouted some surfer as every guy and girl with a board turned to the ocean and saw a big wave building up. "Surf's up bros!"

Zuma and Shelly both looked at each other and grinned. "Belly surfing, yeah!"

The two pups began to lightly dog paddle as the wave got closer and bigger with each second. Most of the surfers were already gearing up for the experience while swimmers got ready to be carried away. Soon enough, the two pups cheered with everyone else as they were carried up by the big wave, riding their bellies with their paws up in the air.

The wave drove them down back towards the sandy beach where they landed with others in a happy shout. "Dude, that was a totally awesome wave!" shouted Zuma, barking with joy.

"Totally!" shouted Shelly, wagging her tail. She then turned over to the shack her owners owned. Despite looking like your average tiki shack, it was as big as a diner and was fit for tables both outside and in. The place was also growing more crowded than the last time they had seen it. Turning to her brother, she said, "Hey, Zuma? Let's got help out Greg and Marsha at the shack. Looks like it's getting crowded."

"Sure thing, Sis," said Zuma, following Shelly towards the Tiki Snack Shack.

A few of the customers greeted the pup duo, who barked hello back, as they made their way to the counter where Marsha was accepting orders and handing out change from the bills. Marsha was a red head with a ponytail and a firm surfer figure while wearing a white T-shirt she got from Hawaii and shorts that reached her knees. Behind her, working on the grill, was her husband, Greg. He didn't have anything on his tattoo swimmer packed chest but a chef's apron while worked on a pair of burger patties. Unlike his wife, he wore his swim trunks all the time which were yellow just like his short haircut.

Noticing the pups, Marsha smiled at them. "Thank goodness you two arrive. We're getting swamped. Mind taking orders, and delivering food?"

"You got it, Marsha!" said the siblings who were always eager to help their owners. They were the closest thing to parents that they had, and had been with them since they could first talk. Putting on their own pet sized green waiter aprons, the two headed out to the tables.

Pretty soon the two were working like a machine. They quickly gave the orders to Marsha while accepting any food from Greg and balanced it back to the respective table. Along the way, they chatted with locals, regulars, or visitors to the beach while getting a few scratches on the ear or back as a reward. Those who were visiting for the first time were amazed to see such a sight, but a local would quickly tell them that the two had been doing this for a long time.

"Hey, Greg? Table thirteen needs an extra order of fries!" shouted Shelly, rushing over while dumping the dishes she had on her back into a grey tub. "Also, we're running low on ketchup for tables six and nine."

"Got the spare bottles in the back. Also, catch!" shouted Greg as he flipped a chopped piece of tomato into the air. Shelly caught it in a jump and licked her lips.

"Me too! Me too!" said Zuma, jumping up and down. Greg chuckled before tossing another one into the air which Zuma caught with easy. "Hmmmm."

"Nice catch you two," complimented Greg with a smile.

"Greg, pups, I know having fun while working is nice, but let's save it until after lunch hour?" asked Marsha with a stern look yet a smile was decorating her face.

"Right, honey, I hear ya," chuckled Greg before pointing to a fried chicken wrap with bacon and ranch dressing. "I got this wrap and fries here for table fourteen. Can one of you send it over?"

"I got it!" said Zuma, walking over so that Greg could put it on his back. "Be wight back!"

Zuma exited out of the kitchen and made his way through the shack, making sure not to bump into anyone. When he reached table fourteen, he smiled and handed it over a young boy who was all alone and smiling at him. "Gotcha owder, dude. Enjoy."

"Thanks," said the boy with spiky brown hair and a strange red and white outfit. He reached down and began to scratch Zuma's ears. "What a good pup."

"Oh, yeah. That's weally good… I bet you got dogs, right? They must really love your scwatches," commented Zuma.

"Yeah, they really do," he said before something of his started beeping. "Speaking of which." The human then pulled out a large blue digital pad that at first looked like a cellphone but after pressing the call button he saw a the face of a young blond haired girl. "Hey, Katie. Everything okay at the Lookout?"

"_Everything's fine, Ryder. It's been a bit of a hassle getting Rocky to take a bath, and Marshall's accident proneness…"_

A large crash was heard from the other line which made Zuma, Ryder, and this Katie girl wince. _"I'm good!" _cried out a voice.

"_But everything's fine. How are the interviews for the potential additions to the team?" _

"Doing okay, I still have a few days left before I head home as well as a few candidates to still interview. Say hi to the pups for me, okay? I'll call again tonight," said Ryder with a smile.

_"Will do, see ya,"_ said Katie waving goodbye.

"Cool phone," said Zuma as he saw it get put away.

"Thanks, but it's actually more of a tablet then anything. I call it a pup pad," said Ryder as he grabbed a fry and ate it. "Hmm, extra crispy. Thanks."

"No pwoblem, dude. Enjoy," said Zuma as he made his way back to work. Along the way he saw Shelly talking to two pups dressed in lifeguard packs. The first was a male black furred newfoundland dog with a backwards combed looking haircut and had impressive muscles. The other was a shorter golden retriever with pigtails and a pink bow on her tail.

Walking over, he greeted the two with a high five that they returned in kind. "What's up, Samuel and Reggie? You guys on break?"

"No, but Sam here wanted to see his 'future interviewer', the one you were talking to a while ago," said Reggie, rolling her eyes.

Zuma raised his eyebrow upon hearing the words "future interviewer" and Shelly, seeing his confusion, giggled before explaining. "She means that human, Ryder? He's the leader for some sort of rescue team."

"Not just a rescue team! A fully staffed pup rescue team called Paw Patrol! All of them are pups, and he's looking to recruit more. One of them being a water pup," said Samuel with excitement as he puffed his chest and flexed his front legs. "And I'm going to be that pup. I am one of the best life guard's dogs we have on the beach." He kissed his muscles. "Just look at my guns, ain't I right, Shelly?"

Shelly ignored his flirty look and instead turned to her brother. "Wouldn't it be cool to be part of a rescue team?"

"Yeah, but I'm happy just working here in the shack," said Zuma before turning back to Reggie. "If this is such a big deal, why haven't I heawd about this Paw Patrol group until now?"

"It's only just really started getting mentioned in the news. They've done a few rescues here and there while assisting other local rescue responders in Adventure Bay and surrounding towns. According what I learned, he wants to have at least one more member before going full time," answered Reggie.

"And I'm going to be that pup!" said Samuel, wagging his tail.

"Maybe if they need an ego pup," muttered Reggie, earning a glare from her partner and a laugh from the siblings. "Anyway, we wanted to know if you wanted to watch the interview later today?"

"Sorry, but I just got my new surf board and I'm going to go try it out later," said Shelly, yipping with excitement.

"And the only weason you're doing that eawly is because you conned me into taking your cleaning shift today," muttered Zuma, with a glare.

Giving an 'innocent grin', Shelly responded, "That's only because you suck as poker."

"Well, if you change your mind you know where to find us," said Samuel as he turned away. "Come on, Reggie. I need go over my speech again."

Reggie grumbled, "I swear if I hear that speech one more time I'm going to shove seaweed down his throat."

After the two waved goodbye, they turned back to work. However, Shelly then stopped Zuma and bit her lip. "Hey, you're not upset that I'm skipping out on my chore for you to do, are you?"

Zuma gave her a smile and nuzzled her. "Welax, Sis. I'm okay with it. Just be safe, okay?"

She grinned back before speeding ahead, "Race you to the kitchen!"

"Hey!" laughed Zuma before chasing after her.

* * *

By the time the lunch rush was ending, Zuma felt his entire paws go near numb from all the walking around he did. His sister had already left an hour ago to go try out her new surfboard while Zuma had to deal with the rest of the customers. Now that the rush was over, he could relax for the rest of the day since the dinner rush was usually handled by his owners and the teenagers from various schools who had part time jobs here. He wasn't needed unless necessary.

"Great job, Zuma. And it was really nice of you to take Shelly's shift," said Marsha as she counted the money from the lunch shift. Greg was making himself an ice cream sunday while the rest of the place was filled with customers drinking soft drinks or finishing their paid meals. "I think somebody has earned a special extra set of treats tonight for dessert."

Zuma licked his lips at the thought. _Okay, now it was worth it._

"I'm going to see how Shelly is doing," said Zuma, as he took off his apron and tossed it to Greg who fumbled around trying to catch, only to slip and land with ice cream all over him. "Oops! Sowy, Gweg!"

"It's okay," chuckled Greg, licking the strawberry off his face. "Just be sure to tell Shelly not to surf near Glazing Rock Point."

Zuma shivered upon its mentioning. Glazing Rock Point was a dangerous place to surf with the high intense waves, pointy rocks, and the stories of how many people had gotten injured when attempting to beat it. He didn't think Shelly was foolish enough to do that, but still his sister had always been a daredevil. _Like the time she tried surfing that tropical storm. Man, was she ever grounded._

Yet as Zuma made his way to the beach he paused. _Going down Glazing Wock Point with a new board __**would **__be something cwazy that she would do. Maybe I should just double check to be sure. _

With as fast as his little paws could carry him, Zuma made his way towards the west end of the beach.

* * *

The west end of the beach was an area nobody really went to unless it was to look at the centuries old lighthouse the town still used. It was always colder and mistier in this area, plus there were tons of rocks and cliffs that made swimming and surfing here dangerous. Occasionally, a foolish human would be dared to do so, but then that was followed by an immediate trip to the hospital.

"Shelly?!" called out Zuma, shivering a cold breeze made his fur stick up. "Shelly?! You're not here are you?"

_"… help…"_

Zuma's ears perked up. "That sounds like…"

_"…help…"_

"Shelly!" shouted Zuma with fear as he headed into the shallow part of the water. Narrowing his eyes, he saw, on the rocks, was his sister far away, shouting for help and waving. Waves smashed into her as she would be swallowed up one minute and then resurface the next, holding on to the rock for dear life. Fear gripped Zuma's heart as he began to panic. "Oh, man what do I do?! What do I do?! High tide is coming in soon!"

As much as he would love to praise his swimming skills, he knew that this was too much for a pup like him. _I have to get help_!

"Hang on, Shelly! I'm going to get help!" Rushing as fast as he could, Zuma could only pray that he would make it to the lifeguards in time.

* * *

"I can hold my breath for two minutes. I once rescued a cat during high tide. And I was the best doggie paddler in my class. Did I mention I work out every day?" said Samuel, grinning to an amused Ryder who was typing something in his pup pad. Reggie was sitting nearby on a rock by one of the piers on the beach, looking bored out of her skull. Their human partners had to deal with a drunken disturbance on the other side of the beach and left her in charge of watching Samuel, unfortunately.

"That's very impressive, Samuel," said Ryder as he then turned to Reggie. "What about you, Reggie? Do you wanna be interviewed as well?"

"Thanks, but I think I'm fine with my job here," answered Reggie with a smile.

"So, when can I expect my move to Adventure Bay?" asked Samuel with eagerness.

Ryder chuckled. "I'll let you know my decision in a few days, Samuel. For now I'm going to-"

"_Help! Arf! Arf! Help!" _

Ryder turned his head as the other two pups noticed the yelling. Running down on the beach by the pier was Zuma, shouting for help and looking like a ghost was after him. Curious, Reggie barked loud enough for Zuma to notice them. When he did, his eye lit up with hope and he rushed over. "You guys gotta help me!"

"What's wrong, Zuma?" asked Reggie, getting up.

"It's Shelly! She surfed at Glazing Wock Point and is stuck on some wocks! The high tide is coming and I don't know how long she can stay above the water!" shouted Zuma.

The two pups gasped as Samuel began to shiver. "G-G-G-Glazing R-R-Rock P-Point?! That place is dangerous! Even we're not of the level to do rescues there!"

"We need to radio in the advance level lifeguards if we're going to save your sister, this too much for us!" shouted Reggie, reaching for her radio.

"But we don't have time! Shelly needs us! I'm going to save her either with you guys or not!" shouted Zuma, who looked ready to bolt, but was stopped by Ryder.

"Hold on, Zuma. We're going to save your sister together. No job is too big, no pup is too small!" shouted Ryder as he rushed over to a nearby ATV that was parked. He placed his pup pad in a holder for it up front, and put on his helmet. "Get in!"

"Um, okay," said Zuma who rushed over and jumped on the back.

"Life jacket deploy!" shouted Ryder pressing his pup pad. Zuma yipped as Ryder's vest seemed to pop out a bit, feeling like an actual life jacket. "Zuma, I'll need you to guide me to Shelly! Let's go!"

Zuma hanged on as Ryder drove down the pier before making a turn towards a docking area where the water was straight ahead of them. "Wyder! We're gonna head into the water! Awe you cwazy?!"

Ryder just laughed. "Don't worry, just watch this." He pressed another button on his pup pad as they flew off the edge. "Jet ski mode!"

Jaw dropping, Zuma watched as the ATV began to transform like those robots on TV he watched with his sister and Greg. It began to turn into a real jet ski in a matter of a second before landing on the water. When he realized they were actually water skiing on the transforming vehicle, Zuma howled. "That was so totally awesome! Where did you get this?!"

"I made it!" shouted Ryder.

"Dude, you must be a super genius or something!" complimented Zuma, who couldn't help but wonder if he made stuff like this all the time.

"We can discuss it later. Right now, we need to save your sister. So point the way, Zuma!"

"Right!" said Zuma as he told Ryder the directions. _Hang on, Sis. We're coming to get you._


	5. The Past of Zuma Part 2

_**AN: So like I said before, I'm thinking of doing a romance one shot. Just so I can even things out with my sad stories. Thing is though, I don't know what to write. So I want you guys to choose:**_

_**Chase x Skye**_

_**Rocky x Zuma**_

_**Rocky x Marshall**_

_**Everest x Marshall**_

_**Skye x Marshall**_

_**Marshall x Chase**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol. If I did, I'd give it the opening and theme of NCIS: LA.**_

* * *

If it wasn't for the fact that his sister was in trouble, Zuma would have been yipping out in joy at the speeds they were going on the jet ski. Issuing the directions to Ryder, Zuma did his best to be brave as they came across the first hurtle of rocks that Glazing Rock Point was famous for. He bit his lip, hoping that Ryder was as good at driving a jet ski as he was making one. To his relief, the jet ski easily maneuvered the rocks. Zuma continued to hang on, and soon felt his fears replaced with excitement as they passed each barrage of rock that they encountered.

Soon, they were closer to the location where Zuma spotted Shelly on the line of rocks and pointed her out. "There she is!"

"Hang on! I'm going to get closer," said Ryder as he carefully sailed forward.

Shelly's ears perked up upon hearing the sound of an engine and turned her head to see her rescuers. Excited, she waved a paw and barked, but was dragged under sea again by the tide which was rising even higher. Both Ryder and Zuma sighed in relief when they saw her barley get back on the rocks, but it looked like she would lose her grip for good any second now.

"Get in closer!" shouted Zuma, with worry.

Ryder tried, but the waves were getting more wild and he didn't want to risk losing control. "I can't! The tide is too much!"

"Shelly?! Can you swim towards us!" shouted Zuma.

"My leg is cramped! I can't!" she shouted back. "Help me!"

"What do we do now, Wyder?!" asked Zuma, turning to the human with pleading eyes.

Ryder rubbed his chin before snapping his fingers. "I got it! Zuma, the small trunk at the end of my jet ski has rope in it. I'll tie you up and you can go get your sister."

"No pwoblem! I'm one of the best doggie swimmers around!" shouted Zuma as he did as he was ordered. He found the rope and tossed it to Ryder, who proceeded to wrap one end around the labrador's waist while the other he wrapped around the controls of the jet ski.

"Okay, Zuma! Ready to get wet?" asked Ryder.

"Born weady!" said Zuma as he dived into the water. He shook off the icy feeling of the cold water and focused on swimming towards his sister.

The waves were rough, sending Zuma up and down, but he kept going forward with determination in his eyes. With each passing wave that he concurred he got closer and closer to reaching his sister. Shelly reached out, hoping to get to her brother in time. This proved to be a mistake as the next wave knocked her off the rocks completely, sending her screaming underwater.

"_Shelly! Nooo!_" shouted Zuma as he dived under.

Blinking his eyes so he could see clearer, he swam as fast as he could down below where he saw his sister struggling to maintain afloat. Her sore cramp prevented her from moving upwards, and the pain made her yell underwater, wasting air. At last Zuma reached his sister, and wrapped his paws around her waist before pulling the rope three times. The rope began to pull them back to the surface as Zuma assisted by kicking upward as hard as he could.

The moment they broke the surface, both pups let out big gasps and hacked water out of their mouths and noses. Seeing herself safe in her brother's paws, Shelly embraced her brother and sobbed at the prospect of almost drowning. Zuma only sighed in relief that his sister was okay as he was pulled back by Ryder.

"Nice rescue, Zuma. Are you okay, Shelly?" asked Ryder, helping both pups up.

"Y-yeah," stuttered Shelly, shaking from the cold. "T-thanks for h-h-helping m-me."

"It was no problem, Shelly. Whenever you're in trouble, just yelp for help," said Ryder with a smile. "Now let's get you back to shore so we can get you checked out and dried."

Nodding with much vigor enthusiasm, the pups cheered as Ryder started to drive them out of Glazing Rock Point.

* * *

"I cannot believe you were so stupid, Shelly!" shouted Greg back at the Tiki Snack Shack. He had been pacing for over an ten minutes, shouting and berating a teary-eyed Shelly for her earlier actions. Marsha had been wrapping her hurt leg while placing ice on it, though her glare showed that she shared her husband's feelings. Zuma, Ryder, Samuel, and Reggie all stood on the side, feeling sorry for the hurt pup.

"I'm sorry, Greg," muttered Shelly, lowering her head in shame.

"How many times have we told you, and Zuma, that Glazing Rock Point was dangerous and you should never swim there, much less surf!" growled Greg, rubbing his temples. "Damnit, if it wasn't for your brother, and Ryder, you could have died out there!"

"I know, okay! I'm sorry! I thought it would be okay if I tried surfing just a little bit during low tied, but I screwed up!" yelled Shelly, burring her face into her paws and crying. "Please… please don't hate me…"

Greg's face softened as he and Marsha looked at each other before the latter calmly took the crying pup into her arms and began to rock her. "Shelly, we could never hate you. You and Zuma are family to us, and we love you. We were just so worried sick about you and if we lost you…" Marsha let a tear drop down from her eye. "We're just glad you're safe, honey." She then proceeded to kiss her pup on the cheek.

Shelly turned to Greg who sighed and ruffed up the top of her head. "Same here, kiddo. I'm more relieved than upset. Believe me." He then wagged her finger at her. "You are grounded for two weeks though."

"I understand," said Shelly as she turned to Ryder and Zuma. "Thanks for saving me."

"Yes, thank you for all your help, Ryder… um, I don't know your last name," said Greg walking over and holding out his hand.

Ryder chuckled before shaking it. "Just Ryder is fine. I'm just glad we could help Shelly."

Zuma barked in approval before noticing something. "Hey, Shelly! You're shell necklace is gone!"

Looking at her bare chest, Shelly sighed in disappointment. "I guess I lost it in the sea."

"Don't worry! I'll get you a new one!" said Samuel eagerly, but was then pulled by the ear via Reggie's mouth.

"Oh no you don't," she said as she dragged them away. "We are going to report back to HQ and then you're going to hold my bags when my owner and I go shopping tomorrow morning."

"Why do I have to do that?!" shouted Samuel, as he was dragged across the room towards the beach exit.

"Because I had to listen to you prattle on about your speech all day. Payback is a bitch," said a smirking Reggie.

"Yeah, you are one," whispered Samuel before he was smacked in the face by Reggie's tail.

Zuma and Ryder laughed at the sight before Ryder looked at his watch. "Well, I'd better get back to my hotel room. I'm glad everything worked out."

"You're welcome at our snack shack anytime with a free meal, Ryder," said Greg, patting the boy on the back.

"Thanks, sir. But you don't have to do that," said Ryder, blushing.

"No way, dude. We owe you a lot for helping me save my sister," said Zuma, wagging his tail. "Will you come by tomorrow?"

"Sure, I got some time after a few more interviews. See you tomorrow," said Ryder as they all waved him goodbye.

_Man, he's so cool. Whoever gets to be on his team is gonna have so much fun, _thought Zuma as he and the others closed the shop and made for their beach home.

* * *

"Wow, so you and Zuma were rescuing even before he came to Paw Patrol?" asked Marshall with amazement. "Coo!"

"Zuma was really brave to go into that dangerous water," said Rocky, shivering. "I think I would faint trying to do it."

"His sister sounds pretty cool," said Chase. "But how come we never heard about her, or his owners, until now. Where are they anyway?"

Ryder closed his eyes and sighed, "I'm getting there, but we need to get to the next day..."

* * *

Since Shelly was still hurt from here experience yesterday, and Zuma still exhausted, both pups were given the day off from working at the shack. Thankfully, it wasn't a busy day at their side of the beach thanks to the lack of people on it. Still, that didn't mean that the shack didn't have customers.

With Greg and Marsha busy, Zuma decided to make a gift for his sister: a new sea shell necklace. Taking a sand bucket, he spent the last hour searching for the perfect sea shells to grab on the beach. A few friendly residents waved at him or offered to help, but he politely turned them down. He felt like he needed to do it since it was his sister after all.

His bucket half-full, Zuma started to check which ones looked good for a necklace when he heard his name called out. Turning around he smiled as he saw Reggie and a depressed Samuel walking towards him. "What's up, dudes?" He then turned to the down trotted Samuel and asked, "Dude, what's wrong? Who died?"

"A dream, Zuma. Only a dream," muttered Samuel.

"Ryder called back and said that Samuel did his best, but he didn't pass the interview," explained Reggie as he eyed her partner with sympathy.

"Aw, I'm sowwy, Sam," said Zuma patting him on the shoulder. "I still think you're a gweat lifeguard pup though."

"Thank, man," said Samuel with a small smile. He then puffed out his chest and made another muscled pose with his forelegs. "I guess I'll just need to continue protecting the beach with my awesomeness. Paw Patrol doesn't know what they're missing with me and these babies right here. Oh, yeah."

Reggie rolled her eyes and whispered, "Oh, lucky us."

Zuma giggled at their antics before his stomach began to growl. "Hey, wanna grab lunch? My tweat."

The two nodded enthusiastically as they made their way to the Tiki Snack Shack. However, when they got there they were treated to a surprising scene as Greg looked to be arguing with some young darker skinned man dressed in baggy pants and a blue hoodie. Marsha was looking with worry while Shelly looked ready to charge in and bite something despite her cast. Other patrons of the store were looking either in interest or worry as the shouting got louder and louder.

Sensing trouble, the three pups rushed forward just as Greg was finishing, "… and if you show up on my property again I will see to it that you are jailed for a long time!"

The hooded guy snorted and shook his head. "You're making a mistake. Nobody tells Stone 'no' when he offers a deal like this. After all, there are a lot of hoodlums who like to make trouble around these parts."

"Yeah, hoodlums like you." Greg glared and pointed this finger at the punk. "Tell your boss that I don't want his 'protection' and he can shove his offer up his pie hole. Now get out of here!"

The hooded guy laughed harshly before shaking his head. "Man, you are in deep. Hope ya got a good coffin for yer funeral, buddy."

"Is there trouble here," said Reggie as she stepped forward, grabbing their attention. She glared at the hooded guy, who look disinterested at the aspect of being threatened by a pup. "I can radio both other lifeguards and beach security to escort you off the premise if you're disturbing this place, bucko."

"Yeah, and we're not afraid to drag you out by your pants either," growled Samuel.

"Tsh, whatever," said the hooded figure as he walked away, making sure to give the bird as he passed by.

Marsha rushed over to her husband and hugged him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Punks like that are nothing," said Greg.

"What happened, Gweg?" asked Zuma, concerned.

"Oh, some jerk came here as a repressive of his boss, Stone or whatever," said Greg, rolling his eyes. "Apparently, he saw how successful we were and wanted us to make a 'donation' so that we were protected."

"Sounds like an extortion racket to me," said a new voice. They all turned towards a serious looking Ryder who walked in. "That guy sounds dangerous. He and his boss could come for revenge since you disrespected them. We should call the police."

"Ryder, there is no need," said Greg, shaking his head. "It's just some punk lying out of his mouth so he can get a free meal. We get those kinds of guys from time to time."

"I wanted to make him leave with a good bite on his rump," growled Shelly. "Nobody threatens my family."

"Still, maybe we should call the police, Greg," said Marsha.

"Look, I'm sure it's nothing," reassured Greg, patting his wife's hand. "If you want, we'll go to the police tomorrow. For now, let's get back to work."

Marsha slowly nodded her head and walked with her back to the kitchen. Zuma turned to Ryder and asked, "Do you think he'll bwing twouble?"

"I don't know, it's better to be safe than sorry," said Ryder, crossing his arms. "But I can't do anything if Greg doesn't want too."

"He's kind of stubborn like that," said Shelly, limping forward. "But don't worry. If any trouble does come by, me and Zuma will take care of it."

Ryder leaned down and smiled before patting Shelly on the head. "I'm sure you pups can. Anyway, how about some lunch?"

The pups cheered at this as they walked over to get some food. Zuma was about to follow them when Ryder stopped him. "Hey, Zuma? Mind if I talk to you in private?"

"Sure thing," said Zuma as he followed Ryder away from the snack shack. When they were a few feet away, Zuma sat on his haunches and asked, "What's up?"

"Well, yesterday I was very impressed with you, Zuma. Not only were you an excellent swimmer, but you were also brave, daring, and dedicated to making sure your sister was safe and sound despite the danger." Ryder then pulled out a small tag out of his pocket and showed it to Zuma. It was orange with a white anchor on it. "Because of seeing you in action, and from what I've heard about you in my own investigations with people who are regulars here, I would like to offer you a position as the water rescue pup of Paw Patrol."

Zuma's mouth dropped as he gazed into the dog tag with wide eyes. "M-m-m-me?! Why? I've never twained to be a wescue pup like Samuel and Weggie!"

"I'm looking for something special for the team I'm building, something that sets them apart from others," explained Ryder, smiling. "I think you would be a great fit with my other pups."

For a minute, Zuma pictured himself being a rescue pup, helping others like he had helped Shelly with Ryder yesterday. He didn't deny that working with Ryder was a good feeling, and he respected him a lot. They had only met just yesterday, and already he was asking Zuma to be part of his special pup team. He couldn't help but feel honored.

However, Zuma closed his eyes and gave a sad smile while shaking his head. "Sowwy, Wyder. But I'm going to have to decline." Ryder retreated his hand and waited for an explanation. "I can't leave my family. Gweg and Mawsha are like my mom and dad. And I could never leave Shelly behind, never. I love it here, I'm happy with what I got alweady. So as much as I would like to help you, dude, I'm afwaid the answer is no."

Thankfully, Ryder didn't seem angry or that surprised as he got up and pocketed the tag. "I understand. I figured I might as well give you the option. Still, thanks for being honest."

"No pwoblem, dude," said Zuma before his stomach growled again. "Uh, why don't we head over to lunch before my tummy gets even louder."

Ryder laughed as he and Zuma headed back to the shack.

* * *

Night came and it soon came time to close up the shack. Greg was putting away the last of the frozen foods while Marsha was packing up today's earnings. Zuma and Shelly decided to spend their time waiting by rolling a ball back and forth. Zuma never admitted it, but he always found closing time to be very unnerving. There was nobody on the beach at this time, and the silence was always creepy.

"Hey, Gweg, can we have liver sausages and chili for dinner?" asked Zuma, licking his lips.

"Sure thing, Zuma," answered Greg as he closed the door to the kitchen and prepare to lock it.

That's when they first heard them. They all recognized the sound as that of an ATV, and at first they thought it was Ryder, but then it was followed by more of them. "What's that?" asked Shelly, lifting her ears as high as they could go.

The engine sounds got louder until Zuma looked over his shoulder and gasped, "Look!"

Coming towards the Tiki Snack Shack from outside were at least ten ATV's with two people riding on them. Every one of them was dressed in black pants and shirts with helmets on top. They then started to swerve away, slowly circling the shack like it sharks.

The family all huddled up together as the ATV's soon stopped and all the passengers got up, holding what looked to be long black and heavy objects. When they stepped on to the wooden surface of the shack, and into the light, they saw what they were and their blood turned to ice.

Guns.

They were real guns. Not the kind that Zuma and Shelly had seen on TV when Greg watched his action movies. Not the toy looking ones they saw in their cartoons. But real, and deadly, guns.

One of the masked riders slowly walked up towards the group, strutting around like he owned the place. Slowly, he took of his helmet, revealing a young man with blond hair and a light green dye on his bands. He had a golden earing on his right ear and a smile that seemed to hold maliciousness with it. He clapped his hands and smiled at the group, "Hi, I don't suppose you do late night take out do you? My boys and I are very huggry."

"Who are you?" asked Greg, stepping forward to protect his family.

"My name is Damian Stone," he said bowing his head before giving them a toothy grin. "And from what I heard you wanted to shove something up my pie hole was it?"


	6. The Past of Zuma Part 3

_**AN: Okay, now we come to the sick and bloody part. I must warn you now that if you feel any sort of discomfort when reading blood, death, or torture then you might want to skip this chapter. In more happy news, I posted a fic where I will be posting romantic one shots called "Puppy Love Moments". Be sure to check it out. I won't be doing every possible paring, but I will be doing at least 10 to 12 of them. **_

_**P.S. Does anybody here think that the new voice actor for Ryder in the last two episodes was wrong? The guy they had before it was fine. **_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

"_Damian Stone!" _shouted Chase, making everyone jump. He was showing a rare horrified expression that the pups rarely ever saw from him, and he was slowly turning green too. "Z-Z-Zuma and his family… they had to d-d-deal with that m-m-m-monster?!"

"Who is he? A bad guy?" asked Rubble.

Chase shivered as his eyes closed. "He's not just a bad guy, Rubble. He's one of the worst criminals I ever read about in police reports. He's been tied to dozens of murders, thefts, assaults, gang related activities. The guy is a psychopath, and his last crime before they caught him was when he… he…"

Chase's eyes widen as he stared at Ryder who looked at Chase with a solemn frown. The others didn't know what was going on, but they felt a deep dark pit forming in the stomachs. Rocky now knew who it was that had made Zuma have those nightmares, and if this human was as bad as Chase was saying…

_Why didn't tell us? Or even me? _thought Rocky, feeling that his abusive ex-owner paled in comparison to this Stone person.

"Ryder, sir… was Zuma's family… we're they the ones…" Chase whimpered as his tail folded between his legs. Ryder, clutching his fist, closed his eyes and nodded. Upon seeing this, whatever strength Chase had seemed to fail him as he rushed towards a nearby garbage pail and began to hurl. The others were shocked again to see this as Skye ran over and began to pat him on the back.

Between the moments of puking, they swore they could hear Chase sobbing as well. Never had they seen their leader so broken before. Rocky, Marshall, and Rubble looked at each other with worry. If this Stone person could make Chase lose control, how bad was it? When he finally pulled his head out and wiped his tears, Chase shook his head. "Oh Zuma… he… he saw all that… heck, he lived through it?!"

"What happened?" asked Marshall, gulping.

Ryder took a deep breath and told them of the tragedy that forever changed Zuma…

* * *

Greg had immediately ordered Zuma and Shelly to head into the kitchen. Marsha was also ordered, but she refused to part from her husband. Despite the pups wanting to stay by their owners, they obeyed and went inside. However, they peeked out of the small order window connecting the two rooms as they watched the man named Damian Stone walk over to the soda machine. He took a cup, and filled it up before turning back to the married couple with a smile. "Drink?"

"We're fine," grumbled Greg, holding his wife tight.

Stone shrugged as he sipped his soda before calmly walking over to them. "Pretty kind of you to put the pups out of danger. Where are your kids?"

"I… can't have any, but Zuma and Shelly are like my children anyway," muttered Greg, lowering his head.

Despite the danger, Zuma and Shelly looked at each other with a warm smile. They always thought of Greg and Marsha as their parents too.

"Aw, how sweet. I wish I had a father like you," said Stone with a wide smile. "Of course all mine was good for was being a lazy ass. I think the most exercise he ever got was when I slit his throat, and watched him fumble around in a futile effort to stop the bleeding. This is good orange soda by the way."

He finished his drink while ignoring the terrified and disgust looks he was getting from the couple and their pups. Sighing in satisfaction, he tossed the cup away before he punched Greg in the face and knocked him down. Marsha, Zuma, and Shelly shouted his name, but two of Stone's gang grabbed Marsha and held their guns to her temples. Greg groaned as he got up, holding his injured jaw while Stone sat down and laid his feet on the injured man's back. "Now all that drinking has gotten me hungry. I was going to order Chinese, but a good old fashioned burger will do fine. Make me one."

"I don't have to make you anything!" shouted Greg, throwing the feet off his back. He got up, but the sound of the guns safeties coming off stopped him from doing anything reckless.

"Whatever happened to the customer is always right? Or is this place's reputation not as good as I heard it to be?" asked Stone, raising an eyebrow. "If you don't make me a good burger, I will cut off a finger of your wife's hands every time you get it wrong." As he said this he took out a switch knife and flipped it open. "Burger. Medium well. Now."

Greg looked at his teary eyed wife and nodded. He slowly made his way towards the kitchen.

"Tsk. You gotta go faster than that man," said Stone as he pulled out a pistol from his pocket and aimed for Greg's legs.

Zuma saw this and shouted, _"Gweg! Look out!"_

A shot rang in the air, followed by a cloud of blood erupting from a screaming Greg's left leg. Shelly and Zuma screamed as they rushed out of the kitchen to their owner. Howling in pain, Greg held his bleeding leg while it formed a red puddle on the floor. Zuma nearly wet himself upon seeing so much of it get on his paws and fur while trying to help stop it. "He needs help! Call 911!" shouted Zuma to the other humans who just laughed at the pup.

"How about I call 1-800-Fuck-You," answered Stone, before he aimed his pistol at Zuma who froze up. Shelly saw this and quickly got in front of her brother like as shield. "Now either your owner gets me my burger or you get buried in a gym bag. The choice is his."

Greg, despite the pain, managed to get up and turned to his pups. "Stay… out of this… I can… do this…" The pups whimpered as he continued to make his way to the kitchen, limping on his bleeding leg. A few minutes later the kitchen grill was on, and the smell of a meat patty lingered in the air. It still wasn't enough to counter the smell of blood for the dogs though.

Zuma and Shelly, terrified of what would happen to them, held onto each other as the latter dived into her brother's chest and cried. Zuma wanted to cry too, but all he could do was stare at the bloody marks her owner made. He then glanced at Marsha, crying and ready to crumble to her knees. And Stone, the monster that did all this, he just twitted around that knife of his without a care. It was like he had no regrets upon the fact that he had just shot somebody and was threatening others.

Finally, after much waiting, Greg came out with a burger on a plate. He walked over to Stone and presented it to him. Taking it in his free hand, Stone sniffed the burger and then took a bite out of it. After a few chews, he stop, spat it in front of Greg's face and threw the burger into a wall. "Make it again."

"But I…"

He raised his gun at the other leg. "Make. It. Again."

Greg whimpered and nodded, turning around as he slowly made his way back to the kitchen. Stone then got up and went over to Marsha and said, "Oh, right. I forgot. Need to take something from your wife here."

The family gasped in horror as Marsha screamed while Stone took her right hand and pressed his knife against one of her fingers. Greg shouted in rage and tried to stop him, but he fell on his knees due to his wound. Shelly, unable to see anymore, rushed to help but was kicked back by one of the goons and sailed into a chair. Zuma went to his injured sister, but a scream made him turn around and scream as well.

Stone wasn't just cutting one of Marsha's fingers off, he was sawing it. Up and down the knife went despite Marsha's struggles as her finger slowly began to come apart from her hand. The gleeful look on Stone's face was nothing more than a twisted sick pleasure upon seeing the sight of dismemberment. The finger soon came out, and Zuma saw wound begin to spray blood out along with bits of bone. Zuma fell to his knees and lost his lunch immediately.

Now there was a stench of stomach bile and blood mixed in the air.

Non-phased by all this, Stone walked back to his chair, ignoring the crying of Marsha and the cursing of Greg. He looked at the husband and smirked. "Now unless you want your wife to become eight fingered instead of nine, I suggest you make a good burger."

Greg began to sob as he got back up to try again.

* * *

Five times. Five times Greg tried and five times he failed. With Marsha always paying for it.

Stone kept his promise and cut off a finger each time. Now Marsha was missing her right pinkie, thumb and wedding finger while her left had her two middle fingers missing. All laid out on a table in bloody stumps. Marsha was barley standing anymore, only the two goons who had been holding her kept her from falling down completely.

Zuma and Shelly's faces were covered with tear marks. This was the woman who had loved them all their lives. She had read stories to them when they went to bed at night. If they were sick or injured she would kiss them and take care of them until they were better. Marsha had even told Zuma and Shelly one day that they were named after children she had been hoping to get with Greg until they found out about his problem. That meant more to them than anything because it showed that even though they were pups, they were thought of as family instead of pets.

And now that woman-their mother- was being tortured by this maniac who didn't seem to care.

Greg, in his sixth attempt, presented the next burger as all awaited with a held breath to see how Stone would take it. He chewed it for a bit, tapping his chin. With a smile he pretended thumbs up to Greg. "Good stuff! You got it!" Greg sighed in relief as did the others. However, Stone threw the burger away like he did with all the others. "Yeah, you actually got it right the first time. I just lied to screw with ya." He chuckled while the others stared at him with disbelief as they wondered how in god's name this man's sick mind worked.

"Of course, you forgot one little thing each time," scolded Stone as he raised his finger and shook it back and forth with a "tsk tsk".

"W-what?" asked Greg, trembling.

"You forgot the fries," answered Stone with a grin. He then pointed to two of his men. "Grill him on this lesson, boys?"

Before Greg could argue, he was dragged by the two into the kitchen while begging for mercy. Zuma and Shelly wanted to go help him, but were too frozen by the amused glare that Stone was giving them. Their spines shivered as they heard the sound of the grill being used followed by Greg screaming. A foul smell came from the room as Greg continued to scream along with the sizzling. It continued for a few minutes until it suddenly stopped and Greg's screams turned to whimpers.

When he was dragged out, Shelly and Zuma cried out in horror at what they saw. Greg's entire right face was burned along with his hands. Tears from his only good eye began to fall as his hands twitched causing him to give a slight shout of pain with each movement. He was thrown onto the floor like a piece of wasted meat as Stone inhaled the smell. "Hmm, now that smells great. Maybe you should serve yourself one of these days?"

Unable to take anymore, Marsha broke free from her captors and screamed. She ran at Stone with fury in her eyes, her bleeding hands flaying in the air.

Stone avoid her charge, got behind her, and locked his arm around her throat. "You know who hasn't eaten today? Shiva." He showed her his knife in front of her terrified eyes. "I think it's only fair that she gets a meal as well, don't you?"

With that said he stabbed her, much to everyone's horror, straight in the back over and over again. She screamed as every inch of the blade went into her as her back became completely covered in blood. Stone than turned her around and started stabbing her in the stomach just as fast.

"_Marsha!"_ shouted Greg, his voice cracked and broken.

"Mommy!" shouted Zuma and Shelly in horror as they saw the light in her eyes slowly fade. With all her remaining strength, she weakly glanced at her family one last time.

"I… love you…" she whimpered before Stone's knife found its way into her throat with a stab. She gurgled out blood before she went limp while the knife was twisted in further. When it was dragged out of her, she fell to the floor in a crumbled heap, her blood covering every part of her body.

"No… no… nooooooo! _Nooo!_" screamed Shelly as she covered her eyes and fell to the floor in tears. "Mommy! _Mommy!"_

"M-m-m-mommy…" whispered Zuma as his eyes began to water. "Mommy… get up… get up… get up… _GET UP!"_

But no matter how much he or his sister screamed, their bleeding mother's body didn't move. Greg crawled to his wife as he took her lifeless body into his arms and cradled her. He silently cried as he wiped away the blood off her pale face and kissed her forehead. "Marsha… my love…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

"Why?!" demanded Zuma as he turned to Stone who raised his eyebrow. "Why?! Why do all of this?!"

"Because it's fun," said Stone as he stretched his arms. "Well, that and your owner her refused to pay."

"I'll… I'll pay… just… please…" whimpered Greg, sobbing. "Just spare me and my pups."

"Please! Show mercy! Take whatever you want! Just stop hurting us!" shouted Shelly, lowering her head in a bow.

Stone rubbed his chin. "Hmm, maybe I'll end your suffering." He turned to his gang and snapped his fingers. "Starting with the widow."

At once every one who had guns aimed at Greg who didn't even flinch. Zuma screamed in protest as Greg looked at them and whispered one last time, "I'm sorry, pups."

And the bullets hailed into the sky.

Shelly screamed and tried to run towards Greg as he was assaulted on all sides by the gunfire, but Zuma held her back. They watched as their father figure was torn apart along with Marsha. When it was all over all that remained were two minced meat corpses covered in bullet holes that lay in each others embrace.

Zuma didn't bother holding onto his sister anymore as they both ran to their now dead owners. They wept over their bodies, saying their names over and over again as the blood covered their fur along with their tears. Zuma looked into their lifeless eyes and saw none of the warmth he was familiar with whenever they gazed at him or Shelly. Every happy moment he had with them from playing on the beach, to teaching them how to work the restaurant, to every single birthday, Christmas, and Halloween they had together. It all played in his head for one single moment.

And then it was all covered with every second of seeing Marsha and Greg torn apart and left for dead. Their blood and guts were now on him, pieces of their bodies scattered all over the snack shack that each of them had been proud to own on the beach.

"I'll kill you!" shouted Shelly, growling at Stone who snorted. With rage in her eyes, his sister charged at their parent's murder. "I'll kill you!"

"Shelly! No!" shouted Zuma, knowing they were no match for him.

Like lighting, Shelly jumped up to try and bite Stone but she was met with something sharp. Something that went straight into her neck. Looking down, Shelly saw the knife that was used to kill her mother was now stuck in her throat. She looked up at Stone who smirked as he twisted the knife before pushing her off of him.

The world seemed to slow down for Zuma as he watched his sister fall to the ground and spat out blood that rained down upon her. _**"Shelly!"**_

He rushed to his sister, holding her as she looked at him with fear in her eyes, tears dripping down her face. "Z-z..zu… ma.."

"Don't speak! Shelly, please!" cried Zuma as he held the last of his family close to him and tried to stop the bleeding. No matter how much he tried, the blood wasn't stopping and her breathing was lessening. "No. You can't die on me, Shelly! Don't leave me too! Please!"

"I… I'm… scared… bro…" Shelly gave one last gasp before her eyes closed and she went limp in Zuma's arms.

He froze as he stared at her lifeless face. Holding tight, her hugged her close to his heart and began to pat her head as he felt nothing but pain upon seeing everything he loved in his life shattered before him. "Shelly…. Shelly please, sis… please don't go… please don't go too… I don't want you to… Shelly? Shelly? Shelly?"

When he got no response he, gently laid her down and caressed her cheek. Zuma just sat there, his tears falling down upon her body as he looked at his sister with nothing but sorrow. Stone flipped his knife closed and said, "Hmm, she actually made me draw Shiva faster than I ever had. Kudos to her."

Upon hearing this, something snapped in Zuma as he roar and dived at Stone who was too surprised to do anything. Zuma bit his arm as hard as he could, tear it as best as he could while drawing blood. Flashes of his family echoed in his mind as he only wanted one thing: to kill this man.

Stone swung his arm everywhere to get Zuma off until he finally did, throwing him through the window of the kitchen where he landed across a counter where bottles of ketchup, mustard and relish broke his fall. Zuma screamed as pieces of glass entered his back before he fell to the floor.

Exhausted, he lay there with his eyes closed. He knew he had to move, but he didn't want to. They were going to look for him and then they would kill him. He didn't care. If it meant being with his family again, he didn't care if he was going to die. Hearing the door open, Zuma waited with halted breath for a gunshot or a knife blow or anything that would have him embrace death.

There was nothing. Nothing until somebody shouted, "He's already dead. Blow must have killed him on impact."

"Son of a bitch! Ugh, he's lucky," he heard Stone say from the other room. "Let's just get out of here and get some Subways. We'll use the money our deceased donors have decided to give to us in their register."

Zuma opened his eyes when heard the door slam shut and looked over his body. There were two kinds of red on him. The blood from his wounds and that of his family, and the ketchup that was on him from the broken bottle he crashed into. _They… they must have been… fooled. _

This still didn't make Zuma even move an inch until he heard the ATV's driving away. Even after that he slowly took his time to get up and walk on shaken legs out the door. Zuma walked through the snack shack that had been a key place in his life since he could remember. Now it was ruined with broken furniture, bullet holes, and blood. So much blood.

He stared at his blood covered family and then at his paws which were also covered in blood.

All he could see was blood. Blood on the floor. Blood on the walls. Blood crawling all around him.

Zuma saw this all and he held his head back and screamed.

And scream.

And scream.


	7. The Past of Zuma Part 4

_**AN: So I hope that you all enjoyed our presentation of horrible death theater. Okay, in all seriousness aside I hope people weren't too disturbed by that last chapter. I did warn you people about it. Anyway, we're about to continue with the story. A lot of Rocky and Zuma friendship moments with this chapter. I'm actually surprised people wanted it to be a friendship story rather than a romance, but eh, what can you do.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

After Ryder had finished describing the scene, none of the pups had the means to speak upon learning of the horrible event their water pup friend had gone through. Rubble was hiding his eyes with his paws, whimpering and crying as if Stone was a real monster about to jump out. Chase was turning green again, but he was to busy comforting a weeping Skye who was drying her eyes on his chest. Marshall was also crying, and had the biggest frown on his face anyone had ever seen.

The only one who wasn't scared or crying was Rocky, who sat there in stunned silence. His eyes were wide open and he was trembling. In his mind, all he could think about was Zuma, watching his family butchered in front of his eyes. Never in a million years would he have thought that the same energetic, cool, and fearless pup he called his best friend would have gone through an event that would have broken most people. _Zuma… he's stronger than any of us ever thought…_

"How… how could somebody… be so… evil, Ryder?" asked Marshall, who seemed to have lost a bit of that happy-go-lucky spark he always had in his eyes.

"Some people are just horrible, Marshall," whispered Ryder, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I had to tell you all this pups, but Stone escaped prison and is I believe he's after Zuma."

All the pups gasped upon hearing this. Rocky decided he had enough waiting and bolted for the door. "Rocky! Wait!" shouted Ryder, but the fleeing pup ignored him.

Rocky was sure that there was more to the story that he needed to hear, but none of that mattered. Zuma was all alone in the hospital, and if Stone was after his best friend then he needed to be there ASAP. Rushing to his pup house, he barked twice before shouting, "Vehicle mode!"

His pup house transformed into his recycling truck and he hopped in. Turning the ignition on, Rocky stepped on the gas and drove down the driveway towards the bridge without stopping.

* * *

Rocky was pretty sure he had broken the speed limit while trying to get to the hospital, but he figured he could chalk it up to a Paw Patrol emergency. When he arrived, he rushed through the halls without stopping to get to his best friend's room. When he entered it, he saw a man he never recognized before and growled. "Who are you?!"

He normally wouldn't be this threatening, but considering that this Damian Stone was loose, and that he had a gang with him, Rocky wasn't taking any chances. The man took out something from inside his trench coat and opened it, revealing it to be a badge. "I'm Detective Shaw from the Costal City Police Department. So quit showing me those teeth and relax."

"O-oh, s-sorry," apologized Rocky as he felt his cheeks turn red from embarrassment. Remembering why he came, Rocky quickly turned to Zuma's bed and rushed over to check up on the pup. He was still sleeping soundly, like he was in a dreamless sleep. Rocky whimpered and nuzzled his cheek with a few tears dripping down his cheek. "Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you. Protected you. You… darn it, Zuma…"

"I take it you're one of his teammates from Paw Patrol?" asked the detective as he leaned on the wall, crossing his arms.

"Yeah. I'm Rocky, the Recycling Pup," said Rocky, nodding his head.

"Why would a rescue team need a recycling member?" muttered Detective Shaw to himself while shaking his head. "Anyway, the pup's still asleep. According to the nurses, he had a panic attack when he learned Stone was lose. Can't blame the kid, not after what he's been through."

"Who is this guy? I mean, Ryder told us what happened, but what kind of person… does something like that?" asked Rocky, still trying to wrap it all around his head. He knew there were bad people, and pups, in the world. His old owner had proven that when he tried to kill him in a drunken rage, but he never knew anyone who took such pleasure in killing.

"Somebody who is a goddamn psychopath," said Detective Shaw, who took out a pack of cigarettes before curing and putting them away. "Crap, can't smoke in a hospital. Anyway, I've been on trying to nail Stone for about four years before we finally got him. Kid started as a killer when he was twelve. Sliced his dad's throat for whatever reason. Joined a gang soon after and become a top member at the age of fifteen. By eighteen, that bastard killed all the leaders of the gang and made himself the new top dog. He's been behind multiple murders, disappearance, drugs, assaults, racketeering, and other crimes. Problem is we could never get the bastard until Zuma helped us out."

"How did he do that?" asked Rocky.

Shaw ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, it was like this…"

* * *

Detective Shaw had seen horrible murders before. He had seen a seventeen year old girl slice her father's head off because he was sleeping with her best friend. There was one time when a guy was found creeping in a graveyard and digging out corpses because he wanted to collected their skulls for his truck. And he once was at the scene of a school shooting at a high school when a bullied kid lost it, taking two students and a teacher with him before blowing himself up. Shaw had seen a lot of terrible things.

But nothing was worse than seeing the handy work of Damien Stone. Shaw and his department had been on the man for years, ever since he took over his old boss's gang. There wasn't a crime that he wasn't involved with that wasn't done in some horrible fashion, and there were enough bodies in his wake to fill a small graveyard. And now there were another three victims.

Stepping into the blood covered hut, Shaw looked at the three body bags being carried out while shaking his head at the sight. "I fucking hate that bastard."

"We don't know if it was him, sir," said one of the CSI's who walked up to him.

"Did either of them have a stab in the throat with a little twist?" asked Shaw without looking at the silent CSI. When there was no answer, Shaw shook his head. "I thought so. What's the story behind this?"

"The witnesses who were here last afternoon remembered seeing a man we know is associated with Damian Stone," the CSI guy pointed to a crowd of horrified people behind the police tape. "He tried to get them to pay for protection money. Needless to say the owner, Greg, refused. Last night at about 10AM, there were shots heard from across the beach along with the sound of ATV's. Officers arrived twenty minutes earlier and found Greg, his wife Marsha, and dog Shelly all dead."

"Do we have any prints?" asked Shaw, but he already knew the answer to that.

"This is a well-known snack shack sir," replied the CSI, shaking his head. "There are literally hundreds of prints of all kinds. Even if Damien didn't wear gloves, it would take weeks to months to find his print."

"Anybody see or heard something?" asked Shaw, pinching the edge of his nose while eying the bullet holes.

"Shots were heard, but by the time they called the police the shooters were long gone. Nobody really saw anything either since the beach as closed at the time of all the killing."

"Do you have anything that can be of useful to me? Or shall we be putting these three names on the list of Damian Stone's bloody victim count, and notify the loved ones that we can't get justice for them either!" shouted Shaw, getting everybody's attention. Furious, he slammed his fist against one of the tables so hard it cracked. "Goddamn it all people! Four years we've been trying to build a case against this guy, and every time he does any of these horrible acts we don't have enough! Nobody is this good for this long! Now somebody give me some good news or else!"

"Well, there is one thing, sir. You see we-"

"Hey! You can't go through there!" shouted an officer, catching everyone's attention.

Shaw raised an eyebrow as a kid who had to be no older than ten or eleven rush into the crime scene with a pale face and worried expression. "Are they okay?! Please, tell me what I heard is not true!"

"Kid, I don't know who you are, but I need you to leave the premise. This is a crime scene and-" Shaw was then silent when the boy pulled out a letter with the mayor's seal on it. Taking it, Detective Shaw read the whole thing with disbelief until he turned to the kid who was resisting the other officers from taking him out. "Wait! Let the kid go. He's authorized to be here."

"What?! Sir, you can't be serious. He's a kid!" shouted one of the officers.

"That kid happens to have the mayor's approval on this letter to be involved in any emergency situations, including police cases," grumbled the detective as the officers let go. "Though I don't know how the hell he has something like this."

"My team and I save him and his family in a burning building a few months ago while was vacationing near my town," said Ryder, rubbing the back of his head before holding out his hand. "I'm Ryder. Head of Paw Patrol in Adventure Bay."

"That dog rescue team?" asked Detective Shaw, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't your police pup catch the Velvet Scarfed Thief?"

"Caught and arrested, sir," said Ryder with a smile. "Chase loves to tell the tale whenever he can."

For the first time since he got here, Detective Shaw cracked a smile before shaking the hand of Ryder. "Well, I don't know how much help you can be, but the mayor pays my paycheck so there we go."

Ryder nodded before looking serious at the crime scene. He started turning a little green, but still held firm. This made Shaw raise his eyebrow. Most kids his age would have soiled themselves yet Ryder was as cool as a professional. _Wait, didn't they say there was something that happened to his kid? Yeah, something about his parents…_

"Did… did they all die?" asked Ryder, whimpering as tears gathered in his eyes.

"Afraid so," whispered Shaw, shaking his head. "A local gang lord by the name of Damian Stone is the main suspect. This is his kind of work."

"Does he do racketeering? There was a guy here yesterday who wanted Greg to pay for protection but he refused. He threatened them and… I guess they went through with it," whispered Ryder, a tear flowing down his face.

"You're taking this rather well," commented Detective Shaw.

"I… I've seen similar things before… when I was young," muttered Ryder, shaking his head.

"How did you know the owners?"

"I ate here and met their dog, Zuma. I helped rescue his sister yesterday, and we became friends," whispered Ryder.

"Zuma? Who is Zuma?" asked Detective Shaw raising an eyebrow.

"That's what I was going to tell you, sir," said the CSI as he shook his head. "We have a surviving witness from the attack. The owner's other dog, Zuma. He's alive."

"_Zuma's alive?!" _shouted Ryder_  
_

"_We have a survivor?!" _shouted Shaw who grabbed the CSI. "Why the balls didn't you tell me this sooner?!"

"I was going too, but-"

"Never mind that, where is this pup?! He could be what we're looking for!"

"He was taken to Costal City General Hospital. When the medics arrived he was screaming and traumatized by what he saw, so they had to sedate him and take him away."

"Sir! We need to get to Zuma! I need to see if he's okay!" shouted Ryder.

"Come on, kid. We'll take my car. If this pup did see everything then this might be the break my department's been waiting for!" shouted Shaw as the two rushed out of the crime zone.

* * *

The trip to the hospital didn't take long as Ryder and Detective Shaw rushed in and demanded the room number for Zuma. After getting it, they headed over and cleared their credentials with the officer on guard. A bandaged Zuma was staring at the blank wall with what some veterans called the thousand yard stare. Shaw felt his heart cringe at the idea that such a young pup had to see something so horrible at his age.

"Z-Zuma?" asked Ryder as he carefully walked over to the chocolate labrador. "It's me, Ryder."

Zuma slowly turned his head and faced his friend. "W-Wyder?"

"Yeah, it's me, Zuma," whispered Ryder, taking him into his embrace. "It's me…"

The pup began to tear up as he dived into Ryder's chest and begain to sob. "They… they killed them all… Mawsha, Gweg, Shelly… I… I couldn't help them… they died and… and…"

"It's not you're fault, Zuma," whispered Ryder.

"Yes, it is!" shouted Zuma, pushing himself of Ryder and looking at him with his sorrowful teary eyes. "I could have done something! I should have done something! _Or at least died with them_!"

"Kid, don't think like that," said Shaw, walking over and looking at the pup with sympathy. "You were up against a maniac who would have killed you six ways to Sunday. There was nothing you could have done."

"W-who awe you?" asked Zuma, wiping his eyes.

"I'm Detective Shaw. I've been trying to nail Damien Stone for a long time now," he said, showing his badge. "Listen, Zuma. This is important. Can you describe the person who lead the attack on your family."

"Detective, maybe he needs to rest. He's been through a lot," said Ryder.

"I need all the information I can get while the memory is still fresh in his head. Anything he could remember can help us get Stone off the streets for good," said Shaw, shaking his head.

"He… he was blond… with some green dye around his bangs. He had these golden teeth and earrings, but the worst was his eyes…" Zuma shivered. "His eyes were full of nothing but… evil. Like he took a pleasure when he… he…" Zuma held his stomach as he began to turn green.

"Sounds like him," whispered Shaw as he took out a notepad and paper. "Zuma, can you tell me, as much as you can what happened? I know it's going to be painful, but time is of the essence."

"Detective Shaw…" warned Ryder.

"No, Wyder…" whispered Zuma, touching his hand. The sadness in Zuma's eyes was now replaced with a new emotion, rage. "I'll… I'll go thwough it all… just pwomise me one thing…" Zuma growled as he yelled as loud as he could, _"Awest that son of a bitch!"_


	8. The Past of Zuma Part 5

_**AN: Nothing to really say. I realize I'm getting a lot more reviews with this story then I did with Marshall Gone Missing, but still way behind on viewers. Must be because of the TV Tropes page or something.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

It was painful for Zuma to go through the horrible experience again, but Ryder was there to hold his paw as he told the story with as much detail as possible. More than then once they had to take a break when Zuma started crying or hyperventilating when he thought about the deaths of his family. After about three hours, Zuma reached the part where he said he bit Stone's arm and Detective Shaw's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Wait a minute! You bit him? Like tore a part of his flesh and blood?" asked Shaw, a grin slowly appearing on his face.

"Y-yeah, I can still taste it, ugh," muttered Zuma as he stuck out his tongue.

"Wait a minute," said Ryder, looked at Zuma's mouth. "Dog teeth are very sharp. If Zuma bit Stone there might be a chance that physical evidence is in his mouth."

"That's just what I was thinking! I'm going to call a doctor to see if he can do a swab on your teeth, that way we can get DNA evidence and have the son of a bitch nailed this time," said Detective Shaw as he got up and made his way to the door.

Ryder smiled and patted Zuma on the head. "You did good, Zuma. You did good." Zuma didn't share the same outlook as he whimpered and stared at his paws. "What's wrong?"

"W-what's going to happen to me?" asked Zuma, starting to tear up. "With my… family dead… I… I'm alone. I have no one!" Zuma dived into Ryder's chest and held on to him as he began to cry. "I don't want to go to an owphanage! I don't wanna go back!"

Ryder frowned as he held Zuma and began to rock him back and forth. "Zuma, I'm so sorry. It's going to be okay. I promise."

Shaw looked at the two while shaking his head. He had seen this many times when children lost their parents and had nowhere else to go. They headed into the adoption system which wasn't always the best. Sometimes the kids came out okay, other times they became the very same criminals he had to arrest. It was always a coin toss, and he hated to see the pup go into a life like that. _Even if he does get adopted will they treat him as a son like his previous owners did or just another animal that only needs to be fed and cleaned when required?_

"Zuma, I know this is sounding like the end of the world, and it's going to feel like that for a long time, but-"

"You don't know anything!" shouted Zuma, pushing him away and turning his back. "You still have your entire family and all your pups waiting for you back home! All my family is dead, and my home is forever wuined by that monster! I can't even go back to the beach without thinking about my family! So how would you know?! Did you see your family die in front of you, Wyder!"

_And here comes the anger, _thought Shaw, shaking his head. _Poor pup just needs to let it all out._

"… Zuma, I do know what it's like," said Ryder, much to the shock of the others. "My parents… they died in front of me when I was seven."

"W-what?"

Ryder closed his eyes and sighed. "We were on vacation in Florida. An arsonist burned our hotel with firebombs. My parents… they didn't make it and I saw them burn. It's a sight I'll never forget. A firefighter rescued me before I was taken by the flames, and a police officer helped us escape to safety. That same officer caught the guy a few days later." Ryder shook his head as he took out his wallet and showed Zuma a picture of what had to be his parents. "I kept blaming myself for a long time because the reason we were there was because I graduated from high school and was going to go to college. The surprise trip to Disneyland was their way of saying how proud they were of me.

"Ryder, you finished high school at _seven?" _asked Detective Shaw with his mouth open wide. "What are you a super genius?"

"I was pretty much born as one," chuckled Ryder, scratching his head. "My parents were gifted scientists as well, rich ones too. Everything they owned was given to me when they died. The money, inventions, contacts. I used them to start Paw Patrol because I wanted to help people from becoming what I was. Alone. I wanted to save as many lives as I can." Ryder then put his hand on Zuma's shoulder. "Zuma, I wasn't able to save your family. But I can save you. I want you to live with me."

"Y-you… you want me?" asked Zuma, mouth droping.

"I offered you a position in Paw Patrol earlier, and that still stands. Even if you don't want it, I at least want to take you in to take care of you," offered Ryder.

Zuma's answer came in the form of a tackle and a lick on the cheeks. Shaw smiled at the two and felt everything would be alright. A knock on the door interrupted the moment, as a doctor stepped in. "Sorry, but were here to do Zuma's blood check."

"B-b-blood?" whimpered Zuma as his ears folded. He started to shake a lot which made everyone nervous as he started covering his eyes with his. "No… no blood… it's evewywhere! Make it stop! Stop the bleeding!"

"Zuma!" shouted Ryder as he tried to calm the panicking pup down. "Zuma, it's okay!"

"No! No! No!" shouted Zuma as he continued to scream. The doctor and his assistant ran in, trying to assist Ryder but he kept resisting, even tried to bite them in his panicking state. Finally, the doctor managed to take a shot he had and stuck in it in Zuma. The pup yipped for a bit before he slowly fell into a deep slumber and was out cold.

Detective Shaw watched all of this in silence before he left the building. He was going to bring Stone in now before anything else happened.

* * *

As if it was fitting for the situation, the entire sky was filled with grey clouds that looked ready to rain at any moment. Dozens of people and dogs, including Samuel and Reggie, had come to the cemetery to watch the burial after the funeral ceremony, something Zuma was sure his family would appreciate if they could. Three caskets with white flowers on top stood above the dug holes that would hold them for eternity.

Zuma, dressed in a simple black tux for his size, stood there while Ryder was by his side, their gaze focused on the three caskets. Two were of average human size, the closest one to him was puppy sized. Because of the damage done to their bodies, both Greg and Marshall had to be closed casket. The only one that was open was Shelly, who lay there peacefully in a white dress, her paws folded over her chest. She was smiling as if she was just dreaming in an afternoon nap, but it was a dream she would never wake up from.

A priest was saying something, but Zuma ignored him. Right now, he wasn't sure he wanted to listen to God when he allowed this to happen. He knew it was wrong to think that since Greg and Marsha had been religious themselves, and both him and Shelly followed in their beliefs. However, just today, he wanted to hold his anger.

Staring at the caskets, including his own sister, Zuma wondered what was going to happen now that he had lost everything. He had accepted Ryder's offer to go home with him, and become a member of Paw Patrol, even vowing to make sure nobody else suffered like he was. But what after that? Would he get along with these new pups? Would he ever move on from this? And then there was Stone. Just thinking about his name made Zuma almost lose his bladder. He had been angry before but now as the images of that murderer echoed in his head, he felt like he had seen the devil walk the earth and now it was in his dreams.

The priest finally ended his speech and turned his eyes to Zuma who gulped upon not feeling just his, but all eyes on him. He took three objects with him and walked over to the first casket which held his father, Greg. Greg had been human, but he was his dad. He raised him most of his life. They went to ball games together. He taught him what it meant to be brave, and stand up for what was right. He once told Zuma he was the son he never had in a trip down to the mountains for skiing. With a tearful farewell, he placed a white rose on the casket and kissed it. "Goodbye, Gweg."

Next was Marsha, his other owner, and his mother. She was the first human who ever showed him and Shelly a loving smile. It was then he knew that this human was going to be his owner. She cared for him when he was sick. Scolded him when he did something wrong, but made sure to teach why it was a mistake. She sat by his bed during the scary nights growing up. And she never once failed to say how much she loved both him, and his sister, every day. A part of him wished he had been born human, so he could be her real son. But she assured him that she was his son. And nothing would ever change that, not even death. Zuma put another white rose on the casket and kissed the wood. "Goodbye, Mawsha."

And finally there was his sister, the one who had been by his side since birth. He never knew what happened to his birth parents, a sad tale for many pups like him and Shelly. Shelly had always been rash, adventurous, and even headstrong while Zuma preferred to relax and hang back. But one thing Shelly always had been was helpful, she wanted to even one day be a lifeguard dog to help others out. Shelly had been more than just a sister, she was his best friend. They never spent one day away from each other for long, and there was a bond between them that few could ever understand. He wished he was right beside him, right now so they could mourn together. But she was with their parents now. For his sister, he had something special. Something he never managed to give to her before she died. With carefulness, he tied the new seashell necklace he made around her neck before kissing her forehead. "Goodbye… Sis…"

With that said, Zuma turned away and ran into Ryder's chest to sob into. His mournful cries echoed as the caskets were lowered into their earthly beds.

* * *

"Zuma? Hey, Zuma!"

The chocolate labrador groaned as he awoke from his dream and opened his teary eyes. "Wocky?"

"Oh thank goddness," sighed Rocky as he nuzzled his best friend. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too, kiddo," said a familiar voice that made Zuma turn his head and gaze at Detective Shaw. Saluting to the pup, he said, "Glad to see your up."

"Detective Shaw? Then…" Zuma's face began to lose color. "Then it's true… he escaped… and he's after me…"

"I'm afraid so, Zuma," said Shaw, shaking his head. Clenching his fist, he continued, "Put I promise that we'll do everything we can to protect you."

Zuma turned to Rocky and whimpered, "So… you know too?"

"We all do," said Rocky, patting his paw. "Don't worry. We'll protect you too."

"You don't understand! He's dangerous! He could kill you! Just like he killed my family!" shouted Zuma, shaking his head as his eyes widen with fear. "You have no idea what that man is capable of. He's evil, Wocky. Pure evil!"

He turned to Detective Shaw. "You know what I'm talking about, wight?! And he'll never get captured again! I mean you bawely got him last time!"

Detective Shaw growled as he punched the nearby wall. "Yeah… I remember…"

* * *

Detective Shaw had not trouble getting a warrant thanks to the evidence they had along with Zuma's testimony. He wasn't taking any chances and called for every cop he could along with two SWAT teams to assist. The murdering bastard lived in an abandoned factory with his gang, plenty of cover for the gang to hold out on incase a firefight erupted. Backup would take a few minutes to arrive, but

He had ordered all sirens to be put on silent for the element of surprise. When they arrived in the back parking lot of the factory, he put on his police vest and grabbed his Jericho 941, a gift from his training instructor when he went to Israel for a few courses years ago. It was a powerful gun, even more powerful than a Desert Eagle. He also had a second gun that was a VP70. Small, but accurate for close quarters.

The other officers and the SWAT teams erupted from their cars and trucks and began to forum up, with Shaw giving the orders. "Alpha Team will take the back door. Bravo and I will head over to the front to cut off their escape. These bastards won't go down without a fight so expect heavy resistance. Let's move!"

The two teams split up, Shaw leading his force as they double timed it to the front entrance of the factory. Two of the SWAT team set up breaching charged by the door and held the trigger before giving Shaw the thumbs up. Holding his pistol close, he radioed the other team. "Bravo in position. Alpha, are you ready?"

"_Roger, sir. We are awaiting your green."_

"Good. On my mark, we'll head in and sweep. Take down any hostiles. Stone is our main goal. So find him alive or dead," ordered Shaw. "Three. Two. One. Go!"

Two breaching charges on opposite ends of the factory went off, blowing the doors wide open. Officers from both ends entered, shouting and issuing orders. A few of the gangsters inside were easily spooked and fell to the floor without resisting arrest. A few others…

"_Alpha Blue is taking fire! Repeat, we are taking fire! Firing back!"_

Shaw was about to issue orders when a bullet sailed right over him and he ducked behind a nearby machine. "Take cover!"

Machine gun fire rained down upon the officers as two were cut down instantly while a third was hit in the knees and fell. A SWAT team member rushed over and helped drag him into cover while the gunshots continued. The police opened fire, Shaw among them as he let lose bullet after bullet from his Jericho.

Noticing a punk with an AK-47, Shaw aimed and fired a single shot that nailed him in the head. He then noticed a few steam pipes above and shouted, "Aim for the pipes!"

He and a few other officers did so, breaking them apart and letting lose steam upon the shooters. The SWAT team then charged forward with their guns blazing, cutting them apart one by one until only three remained but they were down for the count and injured. While cuffing them, Shaw's radio went off. _"Stone spotted! He's heading up the walkway! We got injured and down officers and *bang* gah!"_

Static.

"That son of a bitch," muttered Shaw as he saw a staircase leading up and charged forward without warning the rest. He climbed as high as he could while reloading his gun, his mind dead set on getting Stone one way or another.

When he reached a walk way, he saw Stone rushing past him at high speeds. "Stop right there, Stone!" shouted Shaw as he chased after him.

Stone turned his arm and started firing at him with a pistol, but Shaw fired back. Neither was able to hit each other as their desperation or rage kept blinding them to shoot straight. When both guns were empty, they focused on running instead. Shaw put every ounce of his energy into his legs and tackled Stone off his feet. The two went straight through a nearby window and crashed into an abandoned truck where they wrestled with each other before falling off it and into the pavement.

Stone, bleeding on his face, took out his pocket knife but froze when he saw Shaw's VP70 right between his eyes. Panting, Shaw said, "Give me a reason… any damn reason… and I will do it."

Stone eyed the detective clamly without any fear for a few minutes before he sighed and dropped his knife. "Well played officer. Well played."

"Shut up," said Shaw as he got up and forced Stone to the ground, as he handcuffed him he heard more sirens approaching and felt relief enter his chest. "Damian Stone you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law."

"I know the deal, officer," said Stone with a laugh. "But you'll find it hard to silence me."

Shaw said nothing back at the murderer. He just dragged him back to his feet and towards the upcoming backup that had arrived.


	9. The Past of Zuma Part 6

_**AN: So, does anybody else hate the new voice that Ryder has for the series in the last two episodes so far? Cause I do. Bring back the old one, he was good! Also, while I find it nice that Wally has a family (Sorry for those who have just been spoiled) I would have liked to see it develop over episodes instead of a single one. Ah well, it was still okay. Also, does anybody else find that Kitten Catastrophe Crew to be adorably evil? Where was I? Oh right a psychopathic murderer trying to kill a dog and burn everything he holds dear. This is the last of the Past of Zuma parts.  
**_

_**Also, I really am tempted to make this a Rocky x Zuma fic. I know people said friendship, but seriously, it's kinda hard not to do it as a romance ^^.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

Detective Shaw couldn't help but smirk as he entered the interrogation room. He had him. After all these years he finally had the bastard. He had been hoping to see Stone looking worried and sweating like a pig, but he was simply staring at the ceiling, looking bored out of his mind, until he saw Detective Shaw come in. Smiling like he was greeting an old friend, Stone leaned back in his chair. "Ah, Detective Shaw? Word on the street is that you've been gunning for me for a long time."

"Four years you prick," muttered Detective Shaw in disappointment. Setting himself down across from him, Shaw slammed down a file as big as a dictionary. "That right there?" he said pointing to the file. "That's every crime you have ever committed since your name first passed my desk. A whole list of crimes that cost the lives of nearly a hundred or so people that you are going to answer for when they stick a needle in your arm, and send you to hell."

Raising an eyebrow at the file, Stone snorted. "I thought it would be much bigger."

"Is that a confession?" asked Shaw, glaring at the maniac.

"No, just a statement of observation," replied Stone, raising his cuffed hands. "I do have to wonder though, Detective, since I am apparently accused of these crimes… why haven't I been arrested until now? Hmm?" Stone began to drum his fingers on the table in simple three piece rhythm. "I mean, surely there had to have been evidence or witnesses to these crimes?"

"You mean the contaminated evidence? Or the witnesses that ended up recanting because of 'forgetfulness' or the ones that ended up dead in a ditch?" growled Shaw, who wanted nothing more than to punch the bastard's face off. He took a deep breath and remained calm. "Doesn't matte. That's all in the past, but those crimes will be revealed later during your trial. Right now, we're looking at what we found in you little den." Opening the file, he pulled out a few papers. "What do you want to go over first? The drugs? The guns? Or the fact that your boys shot, and killed, police officers?"

"We were merely protecting ourselves from police brutality," answered Stone with a chuckle. "After all, there have been a long string of recent cases where you guys seem to shoot first and ask questions later. New York, Ferguson, Baltimore. Seems to be quiet the national epidemic."

"Save that bullcrap for an winy liberal forum on CNN's website," replied Stone, pointing to each paper. "That's enough to put you away for years. But that's not what's going to give you the chair. Oh, no. I got something bigger then that."

"What did I do? Shoot the governor? Plan out 9/11? Cause the Armenian Genocide?" mocked Stone, rolling his eyes.

Detective Shaw's smile only widened. "I got you for murder. Three counts of murder actually. For all three owners of the Tiki Snack Shack down at the beach."

Stone was about to say something, when he stopped and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean… _three?" _

_Gotcha, _thought Shaw, who leaned back and took out a cigarette. Lighting it up, he blew a puff into Stone's face that didn't even flinch. "Ya screwed up, Stone. There was a surviving witness to your little series of executions. Best of all? He bit you, and we got evidence that puts you there." He leaned over and whispered. "You're screwed."

Stone just sat there in silence for a long time. Then a smirk appeared on his face much to Shaw's confusion. Usually, when he had this much damming evidence against the criminal they were either in despair or pleading for a deal. This was a first for him. Stone merely shook his head with amusement. "I really need to train my boys on how to check if a body is dead or not."

"So you admit to killing them?" said Shaw.

Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "What would be the point in denying it? Hmm? Yes, I did it. I killed them. And did I ever enjoy it." A sigh of relief washed over his face. "The sound of the screams that bitch made when I stabbed her over and over again? The sight of the corpses being turned to swiss cheese from multiple gunshots? Hearing that poor little doggy scream for her mommy and daddy to wake up before I gutted her? God, it was so much fun."

"You're sick," growled Shaw.

"I'm just enjoying life as I see fit," Stone leaned forward and whispered, "Why should I deny what pleasures me? I'm only acting human."

He then got up and slowly began to walk around the table. "I'm actually surprised that pup-Zuma, I think-survived. Nobody ever really survives when I decide to kill them. Of course, I wonder how he's taking it."

He stared at the one way see through mirror with a smile. "Tell me, Detective Shaw, does Zuma remember what it was like? To see his whole world burn into ashes and drown in blood? Does he feel the pain in his heart for every stab and gunshot that took away his family's life inch by inch? The screams and prayers they gave to a god that is most likely dead in this world before oblivion took them away? Does he remember the taste of their blood? His mother's blood? I can. And it was sooooooo gooooood."

"Get away from the window," muttered Detective Shaw, getting up.

"Oh so he is watching. Thought so," said Stone with a chuckle. He then slammed his head at the window so hard it cut opened his forehead. As his blood dripped down his face, he gave the audience inside a sinister smile. "When I get out of here, and I will, I will hunt you down, Zuma. I will take everything you ever loved and cared about. I will rape it before your very eyes before burning it. I will make you wish that you died in that shack along with your family. Every night you will see me in your dreams and your nightmares. And when that is all done? When I have taken the last of everything you hold dear and turn it into ash? Only then will I kill you. 'Till then, enjoy your life."

"Officers!" shouted Shaw as two uniforms came in and dragged the criminal out. "Take that bastard and lock him up!"

Stone didn't resist. He only smiled as he was dragged away.

Without any hesitation, Shaw entered the room where Zuma, his chief, and Ryder had been watching. What he saw made him wince. Zuma had fainted on the floor, Ryder trying to wake him up, all while in a puddle of his own urine.

* * *

"… I thought I could get away from him," whispered Zuma, tears in his eyes. "I thought, you know, it was all over when he was sent to jail. But he escaped just like he said he would."

"Zuma…" whispered Rocky.

"And now he's going to come for me! For all of us!" shouted Zuma, openly tearing up. "You heawd what he said, Shaw! He'll ruin evewything I love! Including my fwiends!"

"Zuma," said Shaw stepping forward with a glare of determination in his eyes. "I will not rest until that bastard is done once and for all. I swear, nothing bad will happen."

"He's right, Zuma," replied Rocky, stroking his back. "We're all here for you."

"Wocky! You could die!" shouted Zuma.

"I almost died once," said Rocky, shaking his head. "I'm not afraid of it. But I am afraid of something happening to my little brother."

Zuma's eyes widen as he instantly stopped crying. "L-l-little… bwother?"

Rocky wrapped his paws around Zuma and smiled. "Yeah, I know it seems a bit sudden… but Zuma you've been like my little brother for as long as you've been part of Paw Patrol. I'm sorry you lost your family, and I wish I could have helped you by knowing this sooner. But I can protect you know with our family, and I will see that you finally can live without this monster hunting you down."

"Rocky's right, Zuma." Everyone turned around and saw Ryder and the other pups of Paw Patrol entering the room. "We're going to take care of Stone once and for all. No job is too big, no pup is too small. Especially one of our own."

"We're going to stop that Stone guy from hurting you, and bring him back to jail!" proclaimed Rubble.

"We're all here for you, Zuma," said Marshall, nodding his head. "We'll show him what it means to be a Paw Patrol team!"

"I'll do everything I can to protect you, Zuma. I promise that on my life!" said Chase, saluting.

"Don't think you're in this alone. We're all friends, and we stick together no matter what!" replied Skye.

Zuma looked at all of them, his friends-no, his family-who were going to help him fight the one who ruined his life. This time he began to cry tears of joy as he looked at them all and smiled. "Thank you…"

* * *

As far as hideouts went, this was an okay place. While the motel wasn't first class, it was isolated and that spelled safety. Well, now that they were the official owners it was. The original owner was now taking an extended vacation in a ditch two of his boys were digging. The place only a few miles away from Adventure Bay on a road that was rarely traveled. While two of his guys were giving the owner a burial, Stone sent the other three to get supplies and find out information about Paw Patrol in this town. Meanwhile, Stone was doing the one thing any prisoner would want after being released: eating good food.

Chewing on his sixth cheeseburger from McDonalds, Stone flipped Shiva in the air a bit while one of his other underlings was watching the road from the inside of their motel room with a shotgun by his side. "Will you relax? Have a few fries, we're going to be okay."

"I'm just nervous, Stone," his underling replied, shaking his head. "Every cop in the state has to be searching for us."

"Exciting isn't it?" asked Stone with a smirk. "You know. One thing I can say about Zuma's owner, he did make a better burger then this cow dung." He wrapped it up and threw it into the trash. "Kinda makes me miss the smell of his cooking."

"… mind if I ask something boss?" asked the underling, to which Stone motioned him to continue. "Why go after this stupid dog? I mean, yeah he's the one that gotcha in jail in the first place, but wouldn't it be better for us to skip the state? Head north to Canada?"

Stone shrugged. "Maybe that might be the smart thing. But this is a matter of pride. Pride in which how a single mangy mutt managed to foil everything I worked hard to achieve because he didn't act like a good doggie and played dead." Stone then stabbed the knife into the table. "Because of that little brat, I got sent to jail for two damn years. Almost all our gang is either in jail or dead. Our territory has been taken over, our contacts are gone, and we're relying on emergency money we saved just in case." Stone growled as he rubbed his temple. "If we were taken down by police or a rival gang, I would have no problems with this. But a pup of all things is what screwed us over. That's… just… pathetic…" Stone got up and grabbed his knife; he pulled out another article about how Zuma, a mixed breed named Rocky, and some cockapoo named Skye had all saved the mayor's statue from drowning. He stabbed the face of Zuma with his knife and slammed it onto the wall. "And I'm going to make sure that little pup will beg for mercy by the time I am finish with him."

A knock on the door interrupted Stone's thoughts as he walked over and opened it, allowing one of his other gang members to enter. "I did some digging around as you asked, Stone."

"And?"

"The entire fricken town worships these dogs as if they were gods. They even have parades to honor them. Not just that, but they do any type of rescue no matter how important or stupid it is. They even wasted their time catching a monkey of all things."

"Why the heck would they do something so stupid?" asked Stone, raising an eyebrow.

"Apparently the leader, Ryder, thinks that no job is too big for them to handle," said the gangster as he walked over to the mini-fridge and grabbed a bear.

"Did you figure out how they respond to emergencies?" asked Stone.

"Yeah, it's an app on the phone you can get on their website. Free of charge," the gangster took out his phone. "I already downloaded it."

Stone grinned as a plan began to calculate in his mind. "Good, we can use that. Is there anybody the Paw Patrol is particularly close too?"

"Besides Mayor Goodway, there are a few people. But the biggest fanatic has to be this kid I talked to in town who wouldn't stop talking about how 'cool' they were," muttered the thug.

"Oh? What's his name?"

"Alex Porter, why?"


	10. Stone Sighting

_**AN: I'm sorry that it's taken this long to get the next chapter out, I have a summer job that I'm working most of my week at so I'm limited to what time I can work on Paw Patrol stuff. I hope you guys are still loving this story, and yes I am aware that some people don't want me to do anything serious to Alex. I've done some thinking and I won't do what I was originally going to do to him, which was have Stone and his friends beat up Alex while showing it to Ryder and the Pups via the Paw Patrol App. Sort of a message to Zuma and his friends about how serious they were and that anybody associated with Zuma is at risk.**_

_**Also, I'm making it Rocky X Zuma, I'm sorry but I can't help it. They just go so well together in this situation. If I lose readers because of this, I apologize and I thank you for coming this far with it.**_

_**I've come up with a new idea with him, and it sort of fits with the rescuing theme. Hope you enjoy.**_

* * *

Molly Wallsberry had always wanted to go camping with her family ever since she was little. The problem as her parents were always busy working due to their high ranking jobs. It got even busier when her little brother was born. Finally, however, after so many years of planning, the four of them were able to rent a cabin on Jake's Mountain Resort for a full week of nothing but outdoor activities.

So far they had gone fishing, canoeing, mountain climbing, and bird watching. Today was going to be swimming in the nearby lake, followed by roasting marshmallows at the outside fire pit. At the moment, she and her family were eating burgers her dad had made. Her brother was making funny faces with his french fries up his nose, while her parents scolded him for his rude behavior.

Molly couldn't help but smile. So far the trip was everything she had dreamed it to be. Realizing she had run out of ketchup for her burger when she heard something loud like a big bang go off in her ear. She then felt something red hit her as her hearing went out followed by a loud ringing. At first she thought the red was ketchup and the bottle exploded, but then she slowly turned to her little brother. He was lying face first on his plate… with a giant hole in his head.

She heard her mother and father scream but another two loud bangs silenced them. All was left was Molly, covered in red with the ketchup bottle untouched. She didn't even move an inch as she slowly looked at all three of her family members and the blood that had been poured on her during their sudden demise.

A man suddenly walked up to the picnic table they were using, pushed her mother to the side and sat down, looking at her with a smile that made her wet herself. Like he didn't care that the gun in his hand had just shot and killed all three members of her family.

"You know, this is the part where you run away screaming and finding somebody that poor old Damian Stone killed your family? Am I right? So run along now," he said shooing her as if she was a bug. She didn't move. All she could do was stare at him.

It was only when he back slapped her and shouted "Move!" that her legs finally went to work. She ran. Ran like the devil himself was behind her. She started to scream. She started to cry. She ran covered in her family's blood. All while hearing him scream.

"Run! Run Forrest! Run!"

* * *

It had been two days since Zuma had learned of Stone's escape, and the entire town was on full alert for the criminal. Mayor Goodway had announced to the citizens of Adventure Bay about the risks of a dangerous and wanted criminal on the loose, but made sure to keep any connection he had to Zuma out of the speech. A full on district task force was made with its headquarters being the Lookout since it was the biggest building that could house all the officers and equipment. That, and it would offer extra protection for Zuma.

Neither of the pups, minus Chase, had ever seen so many police officers in one sitting. There were even a few police dogs who came by, all veterans of the field whom Chase had spent as much time as he could asking questions. There were other people at the lookout as well such as FBI, medical teams, and US Marshall's. Stone was a high ranking criminal, and everybody wanted to see him jailed.

It became so crowded at the Lookout that the pups were barely able to move around or play, but the seriousness of the situation kept them from doing such a thing anyway. After all, one of their owns life was at stake.

"You know, as much as I appweciate this guys, I don't need to be looked at twenty-four seven," complained Zuma as he ate from his bowl. He turned his gaze to Marshall and Rubble who were watching him two feet away with their own empty bowls beside them.

"Sorry, Zuma, but Detective Shaw made it clear that you had to have someone accompanying you at all times," said Rubble, putting his paw down.

"Yeah. Besides, we're not going to accompany you everywhere," replied Marshall.

"Marshall, you followed me behind a twee when I was going to the bathwoom," growled Zuma.

Blushing, the dalmatian rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, maybe that was a bit too far…"

"Ugh," scoffed Zuma as he turned around and headed towards he direction of the Lookout.

"Where are you going?" asked Rubble.

"To take a nap. Unless either of you want to start sleeping with me," teased Zuma with a smirk. The two other pups glared at him in response while Zuma giggled to himself. He passed by a few officers talking to each other while a police car was returning and parking nearby, it's passengers complaining about how a tip they got was a bust.

Entering his pup house, Zuma closed his eyes and was about to sleep when a knock stopped him. Grumbling, he turned around and saw Rocky looking inside. "What?"

"Chase and Ryder wanted to have a Paw Patrol meeting to discuss ways to deal with Stone, do you want to take part?" asked Rocky.

"No, I just want to go to sleep, dude…" muttered Zuma, turning away.

Rocky, biting his lip, entered the pup house and gently pat his friend on the back. "Are you hanging in there?"

"… I'm still afwaid to leave the Lookout's yard," muttered Zuma as he buried his head into his paw with shame. "I keep thinking he's watching me… planning something… weady to gut me with that knife of his…"

"We'll catch him, Zuma. I promise," said Rocky. "He'll have to get past all this security just to get you. And besides, he won't get past me! Ever!"

Zuma slowly turned around and gave Rocky a tiny smile. "Thanks, Wocky."

"No problem," said Rocky, as he went up and nuzzled the little chocolate labrador. "Get some sleep; I'll let you know how the meeting goes."

Zuma nodded and slowly lowered his head as he began to close his eyes. After a few seconds, the water pup was lost in dream land. Rocky waited until his best friend was asleep before he slowly leaned over his friend's face and smiled.

"He looks so cute like that…," whispered Rocky, who didn't even realize what he just said as he left the pup house.

* * *

The top floor of the Lookout was the only place the task force didn't invade on Ryder's request, siting it was a place of privacy for him and his pups. Thus the members of Paw Patrol, minus Zuma, sat in attention as Ryder had his pup pad in hand and a computer screen with a word document open for all to see.

"Okay, Pups, I called this meeting here to find a way for us to help Zuma out. As we very well know, Damian Stone is after Zuma for his help in sending him to jail two years ago. Stone is a cunning and murderous criminal, so we need to come up with something good to keep him away from Zuma. Suggestions?" asked Ryder.

"We should do our own patrols of the area," suggested Chase, raising his paw. "The other officers are combing Adventure Bay well, but we know it by the back of our paws."

"But we can't all be on Patrol, we need to look after Zuma" pointed out Marshall.

"And be ready to respond to emergency rescues if need be," added Skye.

Ryder typed down Chase's idea but also added something about "half and half". "I like Chase's idea, but the two of you make a good point. We could always split the team in two with one group going on patrol while the other rests."

"What about also getting Zuma out of the state or even the country," suggested Marshall, we could always send him to Carlos or somewhere else know."

"We could even fake his death, like they do in witness protection programs," suggested Rubble.

"Zuma would never want to leave us. I think he would be afraid of Stone reacting to that by going after us. Plus, faking his death would be pointless because it would be too convenient right now," countered Rocky, shaking his head. "Stone would see through the ruse right away."

"Well, then maybe-"

Before any other pup could say anything else, they heard a voice from downstairs, "We got him! We have a spotting of Stone at the mountain resort!"

Paw Patrol wasted no time heading down the elevator as everyone crowded around a responder with a haeadset connected to his computer desktop. Zuma was also nearby, which made Rocky quickly walk over and comfort him as they waited to hear the news.

"What happened?" asked Detective Shaw, rushing through. "Who called it in?!"

"The owner, Jake, he said he found a teenage girl covered in blood who was crying and screaming. She said something about a guy with a gun killing her family. She was hysterical, but she said his name which he told her for some reason."

"Alright, this is our chance, I want all units locked and loaded. Those mountains have plenty of caves, woods, and other hiding places for Stone and his gang to hide in! Take no chances, and shoot to kill granted," shouted Detective Shaw as he started ordering his people around while others from the FBI and Marshalls went to work with their teams. The FBI would help evacuate other campers in various cabins and provide aerial support while the Marshalls, Police, and SWAT searched the mountain."

"What can we do, Detective?" asked Marshall, barking for attention.

"Sorry, pups, but you're gonna stay out of this. We don't know what Stone has planned and I'd rather have you and you're pups waiting her as back up in case things get hairy," said Shaw as he started putting on a bullet proof police vest. "Don't do anything without my say so."

"Understood," answered Ryder as he nodded.

"But we can help!" said Chase, but Ryder turned to him and shook his head.

"We'll let Shaw handle things for now, Chase. If need be, we'll get involved."

Chase sighed in disappointment, but obeyed and left to watch the police units load up. Skye followed him while Zuma started to shake with fear. Rocky nuzzled his cheek and whispered, "It's okay. He's miles away from here. He can't hurt you."

"No, but he can huwt others, Wocky," replied Zuma, looking at his friend with a tear in his eye. "That's what I'm worried about the most. Didn't you hear what Stone did to that girl's family."

"Y-yeah…" whispered Rubble, gulping. "He k-k-k-k-killed them like it was no big deal. W-w-w-w-w-what kind of a person does that?"

"A psychopath," replied Zuma as he walked away, knowing exactly what that little girl was going through.

After all, it happened to him too.

* * *

When Alex learned there was a wanted criminal hiding out in Adventure Bay, he wanted to go out on patrol as Police Officer Alex on his super trike. However, Grandpa had forbidden him doing so, even telling him that he wasn't supposed to be going out alone until otherwise. Of course, Alex saw this as unfair. Ryder and the Paw Patrol were dealing with the criminal and he was an honorary Paw Patrol member. That mean he had every right to help out.

That is why he snuck out of his room when his grandpa went to take a nap. Remembering Chase's actions one time, Alex pretended he was a super spy and began ducking behind anything he could in case of danger. Trees, mailboxes, lampposts, even big fat ladies walking their dogs. All cover was good cover.

Alex soon entered the park, seeing that nobody was around, and figured this would be a good spot to start looking for the criminal. Before he could go into investigating anything, he heard somebody crying out for help. Remembering the Paw Patrol vow to help those who needed it, Alex rushed over to see what was wrong. He saw an adult who looked to be a bit older than some of the students near Adventure Bay Community College that often visited the store. He had a black hoodie on and was wearing shades while his baggie jeans were covered in dirt.

Alex, being the helper that he was, walked over to the stranger and asked, "Hey, I heard you calling for help! What's wrong?"

"It's my dog, Sparky," said the man with worry in his tone. "He got away from me and I don't know where he is!"

"Don't worry! I'll help you out! No job is too big and no Alex is too small!" said Alex, pointing up in the air.

"Thank you so much," said the man before pointing towards a bush. "I think he went that way."

"Well, let's go!" said Alex as he prepare to lead the charge. Before he could however, he feld the man grab him by the waist and shove a cloth into his mouth. It smelled so bad that Alex though he was going to faint. He struggled against the man who suddenly grabbed him when he felt himself getting sleepy…

_*Yawh*… why am I … so tired… I had… my… nap…_

Before he knew it, he was out like a light. Ten seconds later, he was gone from the park.


	11. Preparing For A Rescue

_**AN: Hey everybody. I'm sorry I'm so late with this again. I was finishing up the Puppy Love Moments fic that I was also working on. It's finished now so I can focus on Zuma's Fear again for awhile. I do have plans to put up another fic, this one a comedy, but I have two ideas and I don't know which ones to go for.**_

_**The first one I called "What's Marshall Up To?". This is a fic where Marshall has been disappearing a lot lately, doing something that none of the other pups know about. Each of them wonders what it is that Marshall's doing and give their own imaginative thoughts. Pretty much seven chapters is what I have planned for this.**_

_**The second one is called "A Wet Romance". In this fic, Rocky goes to pick up Zuma from his swimming club, but meets a beautiful female pup that Rocky falls in love with at first sight. Seeking to impress her, Rocky lies about loving to swim and agrees to come to a big surf party that week with the club. Upon realizing what he's agreed to, he begs his friends to help him get over his fear of water before the event.**_

_**Let me know which one you guys thinks works. Also, in respond to somebody who asked if Zuma's Fear has a TV tropes page like Marshall Gone Home, no it doesn't have one. But I hope it also gets one too.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

It had been at least a few hours since the spotting of Stone, and so far no other sightings of him. Detective Shaw and the rest of the task force were still on the hunt due to the fact that the forest around Jake's Mountain was very big. Each second that passed was another second too much for Zuma who still stayed close to his pup house, with Rocky watching over him.

There were a few officers left for guarding as well as assistance, but not much else for the Lookout. Chase, meanwhile, was teaching some of the other pups how to defend themselves with a few combat moves designed for pups. He felt it was best since Stone was a dangerous criminal, and being prepare for a fight could save their lives

"Okay, now come at me like you want to kill me, Marshall," said Chase, standing still out in the yard.

"But I don't want to kill you," said Marshall, whimpering. The other pups looked also unsure at the idea of hurting Chase.

"Trust me, I won't be hurt. I'm just going to show you a quick disabling move," said Chase, getting ready.

"Well, okay," said Marshall, scratching his ears. "But I think you'll need to motivate me."

"Okay, I plan on selling Mr. Snuggles on Ebay for a sixth season DVD of Walter Texas Ranger.

"Never!" shouted a frantic Marshall before growling and rushing right towards Chase. Both Skye and Rubble held their breath as Marshall leap at Chase with his fangs showing bright in the sunlight.

Chase quickly dodged the blow with a spin, following it up by grabbing Marshall's side with his teeth and forcing the dalmatian down on his side. Holding him down with a paw on his throat, Chase growled and Marshall quickly stopped as he felt himself unable to move.

"Woah," said Skye and Rubble in amazement.

"Yup, the trick is to use your own opponent's strength again them," said Chase, helping Marshall get up. "Try to turn the defense into an offense against your opponent. It can work in multiple ways, but you have to think fast and react fast."

"Or you could just bite them in the balls," said Rubble, cheerfully.

"Ewww, Rubble!" scolded Skye, sticking her tongue out. "That's gross! I didn't need to think of that image in my mind."

"What? I once saw a Doberman do that to a crazy hobo once," said Rubble, shrugging his shoulder. "It works."

"As gross as it may be, hitting or biting a human's um… pelvis area will be an effective way to take them down. Same as going for their throat, ankles, and wrists," said Chase.

"It kinda sounds like… well, you're telling us to kill," whimpered Marshall. "Aren't we supposed to save people? Not kill them?"

Chase looked at his best friend and sighed. He knew Marshall had a big soft heart, and understood his reasoning. As a police officer, and a Paw Patroler, his job was to save lives. However, cops had to deal with so many problems on the streets, that killing was an unfortunate thing they had to prepare themselves for. Chase himself had never killed, and he never wanted to in his career. However, they had a psycho killer that was after not just Zuma, but maybe the rest of them.

"Marshall, if a gun was pointed to my head, and the only way to stop that bad guy from killing me was to kill him first, would you do it?" asked Chase, narrowing his eyes at the squirming dalmatian. "Would you rather seem me alive? Or laid out in a casket before putting me in a grave?"

Marshall bit his lip, but slowly nodded his head in understanding. "Okay… I get it… doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I'm not asking you to," replied Chase as he put a paw on his best friend's shoulder. "I just want you to be prepared to do what's necessary." He then turned to the others. "Okay, now let's continue…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Ryder had been up in the control room, reading reports on Stone in order to understand him better. He was going to take a break when his puppad rang. Answering it, he saw a worried Mr. Porter on the screen. "Hey Mr. Porter, what's up?"

"_Ryder! Have you seen Alex?! I left the house to make a few deliveries and when I came back I found him missing! I told him to stay inside because of that maniac on the loose, but now… oh dear…" _Mr. Porter then started to bit his nails as his worries echoed on his face.

"I'm sure Alex is fine, Mr. Porter," responded Ryder, trying to save positive. It wouldn't be the first time Alex ran off to have an adventure. Usually, it ended up with Ryder and his pups rescuing him. He was about to say something else when he saw Alex's avatar on the side of his screen. "Speaking of which, I have him calling me right now. I'll tell him to head home."

_"Thanks, Ryder,"_ said Mr. Porter before he hung up.

Ryder switched to Alex's call. "Hey, Alex? Your grandpa is… is…"

Ryder's eyes widened when the screen finally came up. Alex was on there, as he hoped, but it was seeing his condition that had him nearly have a heart attack. The five year old was gagged and tied to a tree, struggling to escape with tears in his eyes. He tried to mumble something, but the gag prevented him. There were black and blue marks on his cheeks, obviously from a blunt object, and Ryder saw a wet stain between Alex's legs on his pants meaning he had wet himself in fear.

"Alex!" shouted Ryder. "What happened!? Wha-" Ryder's voice died out as a new face appeared on the screen, slowly inching in with a smirk on his face. "D-Damian Stone…"

Damian, chuckling, gave a two fingered salute as he inched towards Alex. Alex was struggling even harder to get free, shaking with fear as Damian rested his elbow on his head like he was a stool. _"Hello, Ryder. I think this is the first time we are meeting face to face, but I have heard of you. No doubt you have heard of me."_

"Release him, Stone! If you do anything to him I will make you regret it!" shouted Ryder, his voice so harsh that it was not a threat, it was a promise.

_"Oh, what are going to do? Sick your little Power Ranger rip-off squad on me?"_ joked Stone. "_How's Zuma by the way? Is he well? I did tell him I would come back… and come back I did."_ He narrowed his eyes and his smile turned into a threatening frown. _"Now be quiet and listen or else I will have Alex meet my friend Shiva."_

The name of the knife he always carried made Ryder shut up in an instant.

_"Good. Now as you no doubt know, Detective Shaw and his Mystery Gang are looking for me near Jake's Mountain, but I'm far from there. Oh I did kill that girl's parents, but it was only to draw all of them out so I could kidnap poor Alex here. We're actually in the forests that are a few miles from here on the way to Foggy Bottom,"_ said Stone, tapping his fingers on Alex's head like a drum, the latter of the two glaring at him in return.

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Ryder.

"_Well, I want to see how good you rescue team is so we're going to play a game. See, I have a few fire bombs that are about to explode… right about now…._

A series of loud booms nearly made Ryder drop his puppad. He rushed over to the periscope and looked in the direction from where Stone mentioned. Sure enough, a series of fires were now spreading across the forest. Looking back at his puppad, Stone was smiling like he had just called "check" at chess and was ready to soon call "mate". _"Well, Ryder. It seems like four or so fires are starting to spread across the woods. Alex is located somewhere in these woods. Will you rescue him in time before the fires burn the poor kid alive? I guess we'll have to see and find out."_

The call ended and Ryder stood there completely frozen by the turn of events. But a minute later he soon gained back his focus and pressed the call button for his pups. "Paw Patrol! To the Lookout!"

_Hang on, Alex._

* * *

"Hiiiiiyaaaa!" shouted Skye as she flipped Marshall over her back, causing the Dally to land on his back, eyes spinning. "How was that, Chase?"

"Excellent work, Skye!" shouted Chase with a smile. Before he could say anything else, his pup tag blinked. The others also began to blink s their attention was quickly caught.

"_Paw Patrol! To the Lookout!"_

All the pups heard the call go out; even Zuma inside his pup house heard it and jumped to his feet. "Ryder needs us!"

The pups all howled and made their way towards the Lookout. Marshall, still dizzy from Skye's flip, struggled to follow his friends. "Wait for me! Woah! Woooaaahh!" said the confused pup as he made his way towards the elevator with his eyes spinning.

"Marshall! You're heading for the-" Rubble tried to warn his friend, but he and the other pups winced when they saw him crash into the nearby wall.

Rubbing his head, Marshall got on the elevator and narrowed his eyes. "Maybe I should headbutt my enemies if I'm so hard headed."

This made the pups giggle at the joke before the elevator moved up. As they went up, they couldn't help but wonder what emergency they were being called in for. And if it had to do with Stone; a fear that Zuma hoped came untrue. When it reached he locker room, the pups quickly put on their gear, but noticed that Chase has his super spy pup pack instead of his police one. This both excited and bothered Chase. On one paw, he was going to be doing some spying. On the other, he had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to be the enjoying kind of spying.

When they were all suited up, Skye pressed the button and up again they went. The elevator soon reached the top and they all jumped out in their usual order before standing at attention.

"Paw Patrol ready for action, Ryder, Sir!" shouted Chase.

The worried look on Ryder's face made each of the pups nervous as he pressed his puppad. Their fears while coming up came true as they saw a cartoon version of Damian Stone next to a tied up Alex in some woods. "Pups! We have a serious emergency! Alex has been kidnapped by Damian Stone!"

"What!"

"Oh no!"

"Poor Alex!"

Zuma nearly fell off his paws and cried out, "It's all my fault. He's doing what he said he would do! Endanger all of you because of me!"

"Zuma, don't go there," ordered Ryder, shaking his head. "We need to focus on Alex. His life is at stake and we are the only ones who can rescue him."

"I… I undewstand, Wyder…" whimpered Zuma, who shed a tear. The rest of the pups look at him with sympathy as Marshall nuzzled the saddened and guilt filled water pup. Rocky walked out of his spot online and went towards his best friend before giving him a hug.

"Zuma, it's okay. Nobody blames you for this. You shouldn't blame yourself for this either. Just blame that monster whose done but bad stuff, okay?" asked Rocky, giving him a smile. "Trust me, we'll get Alex back safe and sound."

Zuma cracked a bit of a smile before nodding as Ryder continued. "The earlier sighting was a distraction. As such, we're the only ones capable of stopping the fire and saving Alex until we get reinforcements. This is most likely a trap to get us to come out and Stone to pick us of one by one…" Ryder's words made each of the pups pale until Chase shook his head and barked.

"Hey! I don't care if it's a trap or not! Chase is on this case and he will stick to it thick and thin!"

The others looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "Alex has always been our biggest supporter and one of our good friends," said Skye, stomping her paw. "We can't let him down!"

"Yeah, and he's an honorary Paw Patroler! So that means it's one of us that's in trouble!" said Rubble.

"What's the plan, Wyder!" shouted Zuma, pushing aside his fears to focus on the more important task.

Pressing his puppad, the screen showed the forest with four separate fires spreading around the area. "There are four fires in the forest. Alex is somewhere trapped and we have to get him out. Saving Alex is our main priority, stopping the fires is number two." He pressed his puppad again and showed Marshall's symbol followed by his firetruck and hose. "Marshall, you're going to be on point. Use your hose and water cannons to fight back the fire while we search for Alex."

"I'm fired up!"

Next was Chase, along with his Spy Cruiser and his gear. "Spy Chase. While Marshall and I look for Alex through the fire, I want you to sneak through the forest and scout for us. Report anything you see."

"Super Spy Chase is on the case!"

Rubble and Skye's logos were paired together with their vehicles. "Rubble, I need you to make as much dirt as you can. Skye can then take a bucket and start pouring it on the fires to slow them down and lower the flames."

"Let's dig it!"

"Let's take to the skies!"

Finally, Rocky's logo appeared. "Rocky, is there any kind of invention you can come up with that can help us clear the smoke? It's going to be very hard to find Alex and breathe in that forest."

Rocky rubbed his chin a bit, getting into his thinking pose before his eyes light up with an idea. "I think I have an idea, but I'll need Zuma's help to do it. Along with his hovercraft."

"Whatever I can do to help, dude!" shouted Zuma. "Stone's doing this because of me, but I'll do whatever I can to pwotect my friends from him."

"Then you two pups stay here to work on the invention while also alerting Detective Shaw about what's happened. You can join us when you got the invention ready. Paw Patrol is on a roll!" shouted Ryder as he went to the sliding pole. The other pups barked in agreement as every pup but Zuma and Rocky went down the slide to their respective vehicles.

Rushing outside to the guardrail, the two watched their fellow teammates transform their pup houses and soon took off. Zuma turned to Rocky, biting his lip, and said, "I weally hope we can save Alex."

"We will, Zuma," reassured Rocky with a nod. "But I'm going to need your help to get this invention to work."

"Okay, but why do you need my hovercraft?" asked Zuma, tiling his head.

Rocky only smirked. "You'll see."


	12. Through The Fire and Flames Part 1

_**AN: Sorry for the wait. I got sick this week-still am-so it's been taking me some time to get this done. I think I got it in the place that I work. I hate working there for the summer and can't wait 'till fall comes. If some of you haven't noticed I put up a new story called "Farewell Marshall". Despite the title, it's not a tragedy, but more of a family type of story. You'll understand once you read the first chapter. I know I said I would do comedy next, but this story came to me and I felt the need to write it. **_

_**Alright, let's do this.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

Sweat was dripping down Ryder's face as he did his best to keep calm and analyze the situation before him. Alex was tapped between multiple fires, and tied up to prevent him from escaping. Worse yet, Damian Stone could be planning an ambush to take out him and his team. He had no back up for now, and none of his pups ever had to deal with multiple fires at once. Or somebody trying to kill them.

"Okay, pups. Listen up," he spoke into his communicator, getting their attention. "The fire is too big for us to handle so we'll be treating it as a secondary objective. Getting Alex is priority number one, and nothing else."

"_What if we run into Damian Stone and his gang, Ryder?" _asked Rubble, with a hint of terror in his tone.

"Avoid them as much as possible. If you're in trouble, radio for help!" ordered Ryder.

"_Yes, sir!" _replied all his pups.

The forest that Alex was trapped in was around the corner of the street. When they made the turn he and the other members of Paw Patrol gasped at the amount of fire that had already spread. _"Look at the size of that thing! I've never even seen such a big fire, let alone been in one as large as that one is!" _shouted a terrified Marshall.

"Don't worry, Marshall. You'll do fine," reassured Ryder. "We have to for Alex's sake."

"_R-right, Ryder! I'm ready for a ruff ruff rescue!" _shouted Marshall with a few barks.

When they reached a border of the forest without any flames, the group came to a halt. Ryder got off his ATV and made his way towards Marshall's fire truck. Grabbing the hose, he got on top and started issuing orders. "Okay, just like we planned. Chase, you head out and find Alex with your spy gear. Marshall and I will head in and take out as much of the fire as possible. Rubble, you start collecting dirt so Skye can scoop it up and drop it on the flames to lower them."

"Wait a second," said Marshall as he pressed a button on his vehicle board. A side door of the fire truck opened up and revealed six sets of oxygen masks and tanks. "These tanks and masks will help you breathe through the smoke. I had Rocky make them for me a while ago just in case something like this happened."

"Nice work, Marshall," said Ryder as he grabbed one before handing one off to each of the pups. "Alright, Paw Patrol! Let's do it!"

"Ruff! Ruff! Yeah!" shouted the pups as they went to work. While Rubble and Skye stayed behind, Marshall hit his fire truck alarm and drove straight into the fire at top speed. Chase turned on his Spy Carrier and drove in a different direction.

None of them knew of three hidden individuals on a nearby hill watching them with binoculars. One of them pressed onto a walky-talky and said, "Sir, they spit up. Two are waiting at the border while that kid and the dalmatian took off center and the strange cop dog took off to the right."

"_Zuma with them?" _

"Negative."

"_Alright, guess we'll just have some fun without him."_

* * *

Chase was the first to see the fire and feel their hot flames as he drove through the forest. The leaves were like falling chips of embers while the branches burned brighter than any fire he saw. He could hear the painful crackling of the wood and the thick smoke had all but blocked his vision. Thermal vision would be pointless in this fire, and it wasn't dark enough for night vision.

Still, he had another set of eyes that could help him see. "Ruff, Drone! Launch!" Out from the back of his truck, the cyber drone launched into the air. He had programmed it to find Alex based on the kid's shape, size, and weight before it went off on its own. A small video camera appeared on Chase's goggles that recorded what the drone was seeing.

Suddenly, his drone spotted something tied up to a tree and it looked a lot like Alex. Barking with excitement, Chase drove as fast as he could towards the location. His vehicle crushed burning wood as it sped down the forest as fast as possible. When he finally reached the big tree, he got up and went up to Alex. "Alex! I'm here to save yo-"

Chase's sniffer went into overdrive as he smelled something that made his eyes widen when he got closer to the body. He had only smelled this type of smell once, and that was during his training days. It was a smell all dogs had to be trained to know just in case.

_Bomb! _Screamed Chase in his mind, as he tried grinding to a halt. A snap of wire that his paw broke made him even more alerted as he quickly jumped, turned around and shouted, "Zipline!"

His zipline launcher fired and landed on a non-burning tree. He quickly started to pull himself towards it just as the fake Alex exploded and knocked him off in mid-air. Yipping he landed roughly on the ground, his ears ringing from the explosion.

Shaking his head, he nearly lost his lunch when he saw what looked to be Alex's head, but sighed in relief when he found it to be a straw dummy. Hitting his pup tag, he shouted, "Ryder, sir! I just got into a nasty explosion with some fake Alex dummy! There must be more of them, and they're rigged to explode! Be careful!"

"_Got it, Chase! You be careful too!" _replied Ryder on the other end.

"Will do! Over an out!" said Chase as he ended the call. He shook his ears once more to get rid of the ringing before jumping onto his carrier and making adjustments to his drone's commands.

* * *

Marshall and Ryder were riding through the forests, so far avoiding the flames, while keeping an eye out for Alex. Eventually, they were coming towards a small wall of fire that forced Marshall to press on his breaks. "Ryder, the fire is blocking our path! Should we take an alternate route?"

"No, chances are Alex's is more closer to the middle of the forest where all the fires are heading towards. It seems like the kind of thing Damian Stone would do," said Ryder as he lifted the water hose. "Hose on!"

A blast of water rained down upon the flames, quickly forcing them down until they were gone. Marshall barked with approval. "Nice one, Ryder!"

"Thanks, now let's find Al-"

BANG!

Ryder could feel the bullet zip right past his helmet as he ducked for cover. A few more shots rang out and started hitting the fire truck's end. _"Marshall! Floor it!" _

Marshall wasted no time and slammed his paw against the gas petal, sending the fire truck screaming into the fire covered woods themselves. Behind them, two guys wielding uzi's and riding dirt bikes were following them. The two gun men continued to fire at the fire truck as Marshall swerved it around through the burning trees.

"Ryder! A-a-a-are they sh-sho-o-oting at us?! With r-r-real guns?!" shouted Marshall who was doing his best not to have a panic attack. He yipped when one of the bullets shattered his right mirror.

"Yes, Marshall! Now focus on driving!" shouted Ryder as he kept his head down. He saw the two bikers coming closer out of the corner of his eyes and wished he had a weapon with him. He looked at his hands where the hose was and nearly smacked himself for forgetting. Once the shooting had stopped, he got up and fired the hose at the bikers who scattered to avoid the high powered water blast.

One of them managed to zoom straight up to Marshall in the driver's seat and aimed his Uzi. Reacting on instincts, Marshall screamed, "Arf! Water Cannons!"

His twin water cannons came out and shot water at the rider, knocking him off his bike where he landed face first into a tree with a sickening crunch. Marshall, did his best not to hurl at the thought of possibly killing somebody enter his mind.

"Marshall! Look out!"

"Huh? Woah!" shouted Marshall as they started heading towards a tree which a straw dummy of Alex on it. Marshall pressed the breaks and cried to skid his truck away from the tree, but the sound of a wire snapping echoed in the dalmatians' sensitive ears.

An explosion soon echoed across the forest.

* * *

Meanwhile, a pile of dirt had been formed by Rubble right outside the forest. "One dirt pile just as delivered! Take it away, Skye!"

"Ruff! Ruff! This puppy is gonna fly!" shouted Sky as she used her helicopter to control a giant bucket that scooped up some of the dirt. She took off as Rubble watched her do her job that Ryder had given.

"Man, what do I do now? How come I have to wait here while everyone is having some action?" asked Rubble, pouting in disappointment.

He soon heard the sound of engines running and his ears perked up. He turned around, thinking it was Zuma and Rocky who had come with whatever invention the mixed breed had come up with this time. Instead, his face paled when he saw three strangers on dirt bike wielding something he always saw in his cartoons, but never in real life.

Guns.

Without even thinking about it, Rubble high tailed it out of there and cursed that his digger was the slowest of all the vehicles of Paw Patrol. He kept his head low as he heard the gunman getting closer on their bikes and gulped. Pressing his pup tag, he called for backup. "Ryder! Help! I'm being chased by three guys with guns! What do I do?!"

There was nothing but static as a result. "Hello?" asked Rubble, but when he got no answer he turned it off and was about to call again when the bullets started flying.

He yipped as he could hear them sailing over him and began to whimper. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no!" He wished he could just fly away or block the bullets like his hero Apollo the Super Pup, but he wasn't a super hero. Just a pup!

"… but if there is one thing I can do like Apollo, it's be brave like Apollo!" shouted Rubble, with a growl. He curved his digger around and charged forward, howling. Two of the bikers raced off to avoid the digger, but the third one panicked as Rubble headed straight for him. "Here comes Rubble! Bringing you trouble!"

The biker screamed as he slammed into the digger's blade, sending him sailing into the air and landing hard on the ground. The bike was totaled as it was thrown away and landed in a heap. Rubble gave out a cry of victory only to duck his head in fear when the other two drivers shot at him again. This time they managed to hit his truck and he lost control of his steering.

"Oh no!" shouted Rubble as he slid across the ground before coming to a stop. Rubble gulped and saw the two bikers come to a halt right in front of his truck. Lifting their guns, Rubble gasped as they aimed right at him.

The guns fired as a hail of bullets made straight for Rubble.


	13. Through The Fire and Flames Part 2

_**AN: Hey there everybody, sorry that it** **took** **me so long to get a chapter out. The reason is because my old laptop died and it took me until now to get a new laptop to use to write the chapters. I went insane when I didn't have something to write on, but now that I have the means to write again I am going to go crazy. Anyway, let's continue with the next chapter shall we?**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

Just as soon as he heard the first shots, Rubble quickly brought up his rigger's blade by pressing his paw on the up arrow button. The bulldozer's blade quickly blocked the bullets heading for Rubble's head, reflecting them off in different directions which caused the gunmen to duck for cover. Rubble sighed in relief when he realized he wasn't on a one way ticket to the great beyond, but that still left him with two armed bad guys with motorcycles.

Just as he was about to question what to do next, he heard a familiar helicopter sailing downward from the air. With a look of hope, he gazed upward and saw Skye's helicopter heading towards him. "Skye! You're here!"

"_I heard the gunshots and came straight back here!"_ radioed Skye as she made for the gunmen, the heavy bucket still attached to her cable. _"Bombs away!"_

She detached the bucket from her cable, sending it downwards towards the gunmen, who scrambled away on their motorcycles to avoid getting crushed. The bucket smashed onto the ground, making a large crater. The two gunman turned around and aimed their guns at the stunned pups, but the sound of empty clicks echoed in the air.

"Shit! Out of ammo!" said one of them as he turned to the other. "Bail?"

"Bail!"

The two cyclists kicked up their gas and headed out, retreating until they were a speck in the distance. Rubble released the breath he was holding and started to howl in triumph. "Yeah! We did it!"

"We sure showed them!" shouted Skye with a smile on her face. Suddenly, both her and Rubble's puptags lit up.

"_P-pups…"_ said Ryder's raspy voice on the other end. _"I… I need help…"_

"Ryder?! What's wrong?!" asked Skye with worry in her voice.

"_Explosion… triggered… fire truck is totaled… my leg is hurt… fire everywhere…"_

This made Rubble and Skye gasp as they looked at each other with worry. From the sound of it, Ryder was done for the count and hurt pretty bad. Neither of them were equipped to head into the fire and find Ryder with all the flames and smoke. Even Skye's helicopter wasn't going to be able to fly throughout all the trees.

"_Ryder, sir! What about Marshall?!" _asked Chase on the other line, his tone showing concern for his adopted brother.

Ryder was silent and for a second they feared the worst until he answered, "I don't know… I can't see him…"

Even it left the dalmatian's fate up in the air, it was clear to say that there was a very good chance Marshall was just as injured as Ryder was. _Or worse…_ thought Rubble with a whimper.

"_Hang on! I'm coming to get you!" _shouted Chase.

"_No! Find Alex! He's still our main priority!" _shouted Ryder.

"_But…"_

"_That's an order, Chase!"_

"… _yes sir."_

"But, Ryder," said Skye. "What about you?! We can't just leave you there!"

Before Ryder could answer a new voice came on the com. _"Have no fear! Rocky and Zuma are here!"_

Both pups nearly jumped upon hearing Rocky's voice, but then turned around as they heard a vehicle coming right towards them. It was Rocky's Recycling Truck, but they almost didn't recognize it for what had been added to it. The two pups nearly had their jaw's drop by what Rocky had added to his truck. It was the fans from Zuma's hovercraft, taped and wired to the back of the truck, where a giant car battery was powering them. Zuma, in his gear, was right be a large switch for the fans while Rocky drove the truck.

They stopped in front of the two other pups, with Rocky smirking with pride as his creation. "What do you guys think?"

"What is it?" asked Rubble looking at it with amazement.

"I attached the motor fans from Zuma's hovercraft to the back of my truck. After a little modification, I made it so that they can blow thick air, including smoke, away in any direction. The large battery I took from the Paw Patroler, and Zuma is activating the switch and control to turn it on and make the fans turn in whatever direction he chooses.

"Twust me, I was just as suwpwised when he told me what we were doing," said Zuma with a smirk.

"Rocky, you are a genius!" shouted Rubble. "But you better head out and find Ryder, and quick!"

"Roger!" Rocky then tapped his _puptag_. "Ryder, activate the locator signal on your puppad. Zuma brought a second one just in case so we can use that one to track you down."

"_Nice work, Rocky and Zuma. I'm activating it now. Please, hurry!"_

Once the call ended, Rocky turned to Zuma who was working on the puppad. "Do you have Ryder's signal, Zuma?"

Zuma nodded. "I got it, Wocky. Head straight for a mile and then turn forty-five degrees to the left!"

The two quickly went to work as the truck drove as fast as it could into the forest, with the other pups howling for their success.

* * *

Almost immediately, the two of them faced with smoke that was coming in from all directions. Rocky, barley able to see, coughed a bit before shouting, "Zuma! Activate the fans!"

Zuma didn't waste any time as he flipped the switch and the fans of his hovercraft came to life. With the power of the huge battery powering it, plus a little Rocky engineering, the fans blew even more powerful than Zuma had ever heard them. Using some buttons on the control panel nearby, Zuma moved the fans left and right, blowing the smoke away in a seven feet mile radius.

Rocky sighed as he felt the air enter his lungs better and his vision clearing up a bit. "Thanks, Zuma!"

"No pwoblem! It's weally thanks to your skills as an inventor that we can do this. You weally are a smawt pup, Wocky! Maybe the smawtest ever!" complimented Zuma with a huge smile on his face.

Rocky was glad that he was focusing on the road, because a huge blush was now decorating both his cheeks. At first he thought it was because of the heat, but he felt something in his chest that made him feel… happy to hear that comment. _But why? I have heard that comment from everyone I know. Why does it matter if Zuma is saying it?_

"Hey! Wocky!" shouted Zuma, snapping the mixed breed away. "We have to turn now! Ryder's only a mile away!"

"R-right!" said Rocky as he made the turn.

He put the thought away to think about on later, right now saving his owner was the most important thing to do.

* * *

When Chase heard that Rocky and Zuma were on their way to fetch Ryder and bring him to safety, the german shepherd relaxed. If any team of pups could get the job done, it would be those two. Chase trusted all his friends in Paw Patrol, but if he had to rely on a team of pups for a rescue it would be the teamwork of Rocky and Zuma. In many aspects, the two reminded the spy pup of him and Marshall. While Marshall and himself never had a problem calling each other brothers due to being adopted at the same time, Rocky and Zuma had always silently been a brother duo.

He knew of Rocky's urge to always protect Zuma, mainly because-even more so with his past revealed- they were survivors of tragedy. For Rocky, it was the heartbreaking betrayal of his old owner that he once loved so much that caused him so much pain to this very day. Even though Rocky said he hated his old owner, you could tell that there was a hint of regret and sorrow to that statement. That deep down he wished things didn't turn out this way.

It wasn't a surprise to Chase when he started watching over Zuma when he came over and quickly becoming his best friend. Until recently, none of the pups knew of Zuma's dark past, but Chase had a suspicion that Rocky suspected it was bad. He could still remember all the times Rocky let Zuma sleep in his pup house whenever he had a bad dream. Rocky saw himself in Zuma, and so he unofficially became his big brother.

_And he's going to need to be that big brother during all this, _thought Chase who shook his head, making sure to keep clear of any burning debris. Chase didn't once think he would be on a case where he was going toe to paw against Damian Stone, but if Zuma's life was at risk he would do anything to make sure it was protected.

Even use… _that._

Chase bit his lip upon thinking of _that. _It was something he never wanted to use until he was older, or even at al period. But with the seriousness of this case, it seemed like there was no other choice but to ask Ryder for permission to use… _that. _

Chase's thoughts were interrupted when his spy drone detected something. Another Alex like figure was spotted, but Chase quickly inputted orders for it to take a closer look. Since his first encounter with the dummy explosives, he had already avoid three others so far. _Come on, be the real Alex!_

To his joy, it was the real one. The way it moved and struggled to get the spy drone to look at him. It had to be Alex!

Chase hit the gas petal as hard as he could as he made his way towards his spy drone's location. It didn't take him long to arrive there, and thankfully he didn't smell any explosives despite the overwhelming scent of ash and fire that was only a few feet away.

Chase got out of his car and made his way to the ropes, biting on them as hard as he could. It took some tires, but he managed to free Alex as he cut through the ropes with his sharp teeth. Alex, with his arms free, took out the gag in his mouth and quickly hugged Chase. "Oh, thank you, Chase! Thank you! I knew the Paw Patrol wouldn't let me down! I wanna get out of here! I wanna go home!"

"Don't worry, Alex! We're going to get out of here! Follow me!" shouted Chase as he guided Alex to his spy mobile.

Activating the second seat on his vehicle, he gave Alex the air breather to use and soon started driving both of them through the burning forest. Activating his puptag, Chase called out, "Chase, here! I got Alex! We're making our way back to the rendezvous point right now."

"Nice work, Chase! We just got word from Detective Shaw, he's coming with reinforcements!" said Skye on the other end.

Any word on Ryder and Marshall's condition?" asked Chase.

"_Rocky and Zuma should be picking up Ryder any minute now. We… we haven't heard anything about Marshall yet."_

This made Chase bit his lip a bit. _Come on, buddy. Where are you?!_

* * *

Zuma double checked on the puppad and saw that they were getting close to Ryder. "Wocky! Wyder should be awound here!"

"I see him! Hang on!" shouted Rocky as he skidded to a stop. Blowing the smoke out of the area, the two pups saw their owner with his breather on, waving at them.

"Ryder!" shouted Rocky as he and Zuma jumped off and rushed over to their human. The two of them winced at the sight of Ryder's left leg which was covered in blood and had a few pieces of wood in it. "How bad is it?"

"I don't think I'll be moving any time soon," chuckled Ryder as he shook his head, wincing at the pain. He turned to the recycling truck and asked, "Is there any chance of moving me on your truck?"

"No, I have the entire back holding the battery for the fans," whimpered Rocky.

"B-blood…" whimpered Zuma, who started burring his paws over his eyes. "No… not blood… please no more… make it stop…"

"Zuma!" shouted Rocky as he lifted his friend up and had him stare at him straight in the eye. "Look at me! Look at me!"

Zuma opened his eyes and did.

"I know you don't like blood. I know you're getting images of your family right now, but if we don't' do something to help Ryder, he's going to die! We need to save Ryder, Zuma. And I can't do that without you little bro." Rocky gave him a small smile. "So let's do this together, okay?"

Zuma whimpered a bit, but nodded. "Okay."

Zuma looked around, avoiding Ryder's leg, trying to see if there was anything in the flames that could help them. "Where's Marshall? And his fire truck?"

"I don't know where Marshall is, as for the truck," Ryder pointed to a heavily damaged red vehicle that was lying on its side. "It's right over there."

Zuma rushed towards it and went on the other side to see how badly the damage was. While he was no repairman himself, he knew a little about fixing from his time spent with Rocky. Checking the controls, he saw that it looked like most of the features of the vehicle were out of order, but it could still be driven.

"Hey, Wocky," said Zuma, running back to this team. "The fire twuck is damaged, but I think I can dwive it. We can put Wyder in the passenger seat and get him out of here."

The three of them yipped when a nearby tree fell down nearby as the flames kept getting closer. Ryder sat up, ignoring the pain he was feeling, and nodded. "Looks like we have no choice. Rocky, use your forklifts to help reposition the fire truck on its wheels. Zuma, you drive."

"What about Marshall?" asked Rocky. "We don't know where he is."

"Hand me my puppad. I can track him by his puptag," said Ryder as he took it from Rocky's mouth. After pressing a few buttons, the screen changed and his eyebrow raised. "That's funny. According to the readings, he's outside of the forest."

The two pups did indeed look at the map and saw Marshall's fire tag located outside of the forest area. "Maybe he got out on his own?" asked Zuma.

"But why would he leave Ryder here? Marshall would never do that," pointed out Rocky.

"We'll figure it out later, let's get out of here for now," said Ryder.

"You got it, Ryder!" said the pups as they went to work.

Rocky got into his truck and went towards the down firetruck with his forklifts. With Zuma guiding him, the recycling pup managed to reposition the firetruck back on its wheels. Zuma barked with approval before getting into the driver's seat. He pressed the on button and sure enough the truck started to hum with power.

"It works! Let's get out of here!" shouted Zuma as he drove it closer to Ryder. With help from a nearby non-burning stick, Ryder was able to push himself into the passenger seat and the two vehicles made their way for the exit.

* * *

It didn't take them long to find their way out of the forest. By the time they did, everyone else was there including a crying Alex who was being comforted by Skye. Coming to a halt, Rocky and Zuma helped Ryder off the firetruck which made the others gasp upon seeing his wounded leg.

"Ryder, sir! Are you okay?!" asked Chase, rushing forward and licking his owner's face.

"I'm fine, Chase. My leg's busted, but nothing a good medic can fix up," said Ryder with a smile as he pat his dog.

"Speaking of medics, where is Marshall?" asked Rubble.

"He's somewhere in the fields over there," said Ryder, pointing to the west. "Someone should get him and see if he's hurt."

"Chase is on the case!" shouted Chase, getting into his vehicle and making for the west.

Alex, still sobbing, rushed over and dived into Ryder's chest while sobbing. "It's okay, Alex. You're safe now."

"I… I'm sorry, Ryder… he hurt me… and I … I just… why did he hurt me…" whimpered Alex who curled into a ball.

Ryder and the pups looked at Alex with tears in their eyes, seeing their friend broken like this only made them wonder what horrible pain Damian Stone did to him. Zuma, however, turned away and shook his head. Looking at Alex, all broken and hurt, it reminded him of himself.

_How many more of my friends and loved ones will be hurt by Stone? It's me he wants… why doesn't he just come at me and end it already… _whimpered Zuma in his thoughts as he felt tears drip down his face. _Why can't it just end with me…_

* * *

Chase couldn't help but feel that something was wrong the moment he started looking for Marshall. Why would Marshall be out here in a field of all places without telling the others and how did he get past them anyway.

These questions continued to haunt his mind until he smelled Marshall's scent in the air. Realizing this was the place, he stop his car and looked around, unable to find anything. Getting off his truck he started sniffing around until he came across something in the dirt that made him froze.

It was Marshall's puptag… covered in blood.

And a little note attached to it.

_Dear Ryder and Paw Patrol,_

_Nice rescue! But you seem to me missing a pup._

_Don't worry, Marshall and I are going to have some fun before the real game starts._

_Call you soon._

_Damian Stone_


	14. Channel Hell

_**AN: Yeah, I think I'm going to make this M rated by the next chapter I'm afraid. We're going to get a little... darker... very darker. And before you read this please know that Marshall is my favorite character and one of the main reasons I got into Paw Patrol. Doing this to him just as much hurts me, but I must progress for the sake of the story.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

_I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid._

Marshall repeated this as many times as he could in his mind. There wasn't much else to do as the kidnappers had him tied down to a chair. He had already looked for a way to escape, but from what he could tell he was in some abandoned warehouse. He didn't care bark or howl for help. He knew what had happened. He knew nobody would hear him. And he knew who it was that was going to come through that door.

All Marshall could do was pray as hard as he could that Ryder and his friends would come and save him. He didn't know what was going to happen to him, but he would not show fear. He would not give this... monster the satisfaction.

The sound of footsteps echoing in the hall nearby made the dalmatian hold his breath. _I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid._

The door soon opened and Marshall saw, for the first time face to face, the killer of Zuma's family. Damian Stone, with a small smile that made Marshall's spine tingle, closed the door behind him as he walked over to the left side of the large room. Marshall's eyes never once left the human as he went to an old table and placed something down.

It was a boombox. Marshall raised an eyebrow before he saw another item set down. This one was a toolbox.

Damian cracked his neck a bit before he pressed play. Being a fan of classic rock music, Marshall recognized the song right away:

_"I can't seem to face up to the facts_

_I'm tense and nervous and I_

_Can't relax_

_I can't sleep 'cause my bed's on fire_

_Don't touch me I'm a real live wire."_

Damian tapped his foot to the song as he began to take tools out. Pipes. Wrenches. Crowbars. Nails. Screws. Pilers. Each of them bringing images into Marshall's mind that only made him repeat his mantra more and more. _I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid!_

_"Psycho Killer_

_Qu'est-ce que c'est_

_fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better_

_Run run run run run run run away"_

Rubbing his chin a bit, Damian snapped his fingers and then grabbed a small hammer. He began to walk over to Marshall, twirling it a few times as he whistled to the song.

_"Psycho Killer_

_Qu'est-ce que c'est_

_fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better_

_Run run run run run run run away"_

Marshall whimpered as every part of his body began to tremble in fear upon seeing Damian Stone raise the hammer right above his head. _I'mnotafraidI'mnotafraidI'mnotafraidIamafraidIamafraidIamafraidIamafraid._

The hammer came down as Marshall closed his eyes and waited for the blow. Before it could hit his head, it stopped just a few inches. The music was the only thing playing as all other noise seemed to stop. Marshall slowly opened his eyes and saw that the hammer hadn't him yet.

"Huh?" asked Marshall.

"Psyche," whispered Damian. A split second later he pulled out his knife and stabbed it into Marshall's left leg.

His scream echoed across the empty warehouse.

* * *

It was chaos at the Lookout. While firefighters were taking care of the fire, Detective Shaw was shouting orders at everyone to get to work on finding Marshall. Stone had a hostage and every second wasted was the difference between life and death for the pup. Ryder was doing his best not to collapse into a pile of shock and despair at the knowledge that not only had he walked into a trap, but one of his dogs was now in the hands of a mass murderer.

And without Marshall's pup tag on him, he had no way of knowing where he was. Meaning there was nothing he could do.

The pups were just as bad off. The first thing Chase had done was get into his police cruiser and search for Marshall. He had done it all day yesterday, coming back home late only to start looking again the next morning. He didn't even bother to eat. It came to no surprise to any of the pups to see their leader pup do this. Chase and Marshall had been brothers together, adopted together even. They had always been the best of friends and each would die for the other if need be.

Now Chase's brother, their friend, was in the hands of a madman doing who knows what horrors.

Rubble and Skye were doing their best to comfort Ryder who was at a loss of what to do for once. He had always come up with a plan or an invention to solve their problems before. Now? _He had nothing._

The only one who was even worse off than both Ryder and Chase was the one who felt responsible for all of this. Zuma didn't even bother going into his puphouse, nor was he crying. All he did was stare at the sea with only an expression of terror in his face. He didn't respond to anything. Not food. Not water. Not even Rocky could get him to respond. All he could do was hug the water pup and cry for him.

It had been two days since Marshall was taken.

"The pup has to be dead," whispered a police dog who was talking to one of his comrades. "Damian Stone has never left a single victim of his live longer than a day."

"Don't say that. Especially when one of his friends are nearby," whispered another, pointing out to Zuma in the distance.

"I'll I'm saying is that given the history of Stone, we're wasting our time trying to find him," whispered the first police dog.

"You're just a pessimist you know that?"

Zuma pretended that he didn't hear them as he continued to watch the endless sea from his spot. Deep down, however, he was wondering one question. Why?

_Why not me? Why can't it just be me and be over with? whispered Zuma, who felt nothing but despair deep in his heart. First my family... now my friends... all because of me? Why didn't I just die in that shack like the rest of them. None of this would be happening if I was just dead..._

It was bad enough Alex had been hurt and forever traumatized from the incident. Now Marshall, one of the kindest and good hearted pups he knew, was either dead or wishing he was. Zuma peered over the edge of the cliff, where the rocks and water lay. For a single moment, he slowly raised his shaking paw off the edge.

"Zuma?"

Gasping, he retreated his paw and turned around to see Rocky looking at him. "Hey, Wocky. Um, what is it?"

"I just wanted you know that Chase is back and Ryder's asking us to all meet. He says it's important," said the mixed breed.

"O-okay..." Zuma muttered as he slowly made his way to the Lookout. He was stopped by a paw on his shoulders as he looked up and saw Rocky looking at him with sympathy.

"This isn't your fault, Zuma."

"... Wocky... you can say that as many times as you want... but it's never gonna convince my heart..." whispered Zuma as he shoved the paw aside and continued.

Rocky just stared at his little brother and whimpered.

* * *

The pups all stood in front of Ryder, along with Detective Stone, on top of the lookout. Nobody was shouting any catch phrases. Nobody was looking even the least bit happy. In fact, it was like something was missing in the Lookout and everyone but Shaw couldn't help but stare at the empty spot where their fire pup was suppose to be.

"Is there a reason you called us, Ryder, sir?" asked Chase, his voice void of any emotion. The bags under his eyes showed just how sleep deprived he had been in his hunt for his best friend. "I need to get back out there soon..."

Ryder sighed and shook his head. "Chase, you're not going back out there... in fact... none of you are..." The pups raised their heads in confusion. "I'm sending you all to temporary families for your own safety."

**_"WHAT?!"_ **shouted the pups in shock as they began to shout in protest.

"Ryder! You can't do this! We're a team! We're a family!" shouted Rubble.

"Are... are you getting rid of us?" whimpered a scared Rocky.

Shaking his head, Ryder replied, "I'm not getting rid of you... I'm keeping you all safe until Damian Stone is captured."

"But what about Marshall?! We need to find him!" shouted Chase.

"We'll keep looking, but we can't risk any of you pups getting kidnapped like Marshall," said Shaw who lit up a cigarette. "Look, it was my idea. Blame me. Damian Stone is clearly targeting all of those who associate with Zuma and you pups are the biggest target. We're planning to move all of you to safe locations with complete silence. Once all this is over, you can come back to Adventure Bay."

The pups looked at each other and then at Ryder with both hurt and betrayal written on their faces. They were Paw Patrol. They were suppose to be together forever. And now they were being sent away.

"Ryder... please..." whimpered Chase, who had tears in his eyes. "You're our owner... we love you."

"... I love you all too..." whispered Ryder as he began to tear up too. "But I'd rather have you all safe and seperated then together and in danger..."

None of the pups knew what to say. Silence decorated the Lookout... until a beeping noise came from Ryder's puppad.

Answering it, he saw that it was a unknown number and his eyes widened. "Guys..."

Shaw looked at it and cursed, radioing down he started to order the team to trace the call on the puppad. Ryder looked at his pups who were looking at the puppad with fear in their eyes. They all knew, deep down, who it was that was contacting them.

"... do it... just get it over with..." whispered Zuma, biting his lip.

Ryder took a deep breath and pressed the button. Instead of a call, it was a text: **Go To Channel 4.**

Ryder raised an eyebrow, but activated the TV and changed the channel to Channel 4 which was usually reserved for "Good Day Adventure Bay". Their was only static on the TV until it started to form a picture which made the group gasp upon whom they saw.

Damian Stone was flipping his knife around as he leaned on a wooden table, a smirk on his face as he stared into the camera and directly at the viewers. Not just in the Lookout, but all throughout Adventure Bay. "Greetings, viewers of Adventure Bay. Your regularly scheduled program has been temporarily terminated so that we can bring you a special show. A show that I happen to be hosting."

He pushed of the table and started to walk around it, still flipping his knife around. "Who am I you may ask? My name is Damian Stone. Some of you have heard of me as the insane murderer who is running around Adventure Bay killing people. Well, to be fair I've only killed about three or four so people in your town, but there is always time to add to that count. Isn't there?"

The elevator opened up and two cops came in. "Sir, we just got a report from the Mayor that every TV in the town is watching this."

"Well that the hell are we waiting for! Turn the damn thing off!" shouted Shaw.

"We can't," said the other officer with a gulp. "He's holding a cameraman hostage, the news station confirmed it. They must have kidnapped him as well. Stone says that if anything disrupts his show he'll kill the hostage. "

"That son of a-"

"Anyway, we have a special guest with us tonight for the show," said Stone as he continued. He presented his arm to the right as the camera slowly began to turn. "You folks of Adventure Bay know him as the fire pup of Paw Patrol. A dalmatian that is always fired up to deal with any rescuing. But sadly can't seem to rescue himself. Nor can his friends save him..."

The pups and Ryder gasped when they realized it was Marshall he was talking about. Relief entered their minds when they realized he was safe, but then terror upon thinking what horrible things the poor pup had gone through. The camera soon reached a single spotlight.

"Here he is! _Marshall!"_ cried out Stone with applause as the camera revealed his appearance.

Skye and Rubble screamed. Rocky threw up. Chase had turned pale and looked ready to faint. Ryder had dropped his puppad and began to cry tears. Zuma just sat their in horror as he saw blood. So much blood. Images of his family, all dead and covered in their wounds began to flash in his mind and now a new member had joined them.

Marshall was, for the better lack of the word, a mess. His entire body was covered with cuts from simple papercut sizes to full on gashes. His eyes were both decorated with shiners and bruises on his cheeks were easy to see. His jaw looked to be half broken as one of his ears was ripped off with something sharp. A small pool of blood, dripped down from his hindquarters where patches of fur had been skinned off and burn marks near his lower legs could be seen.

With tears flowing down his cheeks, Marshall only whispered one thing. "Ryder... help me..."

Stone, without any care of the half-dead pup in his possession, walked over to Marshall and patted him on the head. "Now, Marshall, who is your best friend in the whole world?"

"... you..." muttered Marshall.

"Oh my god..." whispered Skye as she turned away. "I don't want to see this."

"Marshall..." whispered Zuma as he fell to his stomach, crying in tears. Rocky went to his side and nuzzled him, but Zuma pushed him away.

"I'll kill him..." growled Chase, huffing and puffing. "I will, swear to god, kill him."

Stone continue to pet the dalmatian. "And who has been a bad puppy?"

"... me..." whispered Marshall as he began to choke up while coughing blood.

"Good," said Stone as he raised himself up and smirked at the camera. "And whose fault is it that you are like this?"

"... n-no..." whimpered Marshall.

Stone sighed as he took Marshall's head and lifted it back, making him scream. He shoved his knife next to his throat. "Tell me. Whose fault. This is all."

"... Zuma..." whimpered Marshall which got him released.

Stone smiled and turned back towards the camera. "That's right, Zuma. This is all your fault. Your fault for not dying all those years ago. Your fault that a poor little kid is going to be forever traumatized. That a girl lost her family. That your good friend Marshall is suffering right now."

Everyone looked at Zuma who closed his eyes in an effort to fight back the tears, but it was pointless. The chocolate lab just whimpered and muttered to himself as he stared at Marshall, the blood, and all of the suffering he had caused. _My fault... all my fault..._

"But there is a way to save him," said Stone, catching their attention. "We're going to play a few games to see if Marshall comes out in one piece or in pieces." Stone pulled out a cellphone. "Ryder, if you are watching this. Please call the number that texted you in the next fifteen minutes... or else I'll assume you don't care about your dog and just put him out of his misery.

The team all looked at Ryder who had picked up his puppad and looked at it with worry yet determination in his eyes. After looking at the other pups who nodded in agreement he recalled the phone.

And now the games would begin.


	15. Stone's Game Part 1

_**AN: I know I said that I would make this M rated, but for now I'm going to keep it at T+. In my opinion, you don't need to worry about going M unless you have sex involved, which I will not despite this being a Rocky x Zuma fic. I will say this right now, if you are squeamish or cannot stand torcher, skip this chapter and the next. Especially if you are a Marshall fan.**_

_**Also, again, Everest is not appearing in this fic. This takes place before that episode. **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

It didn't take long for Ryder to redial the number and for Stone to answer it on TV with his own cell. _"Hello, Ryder."_

"Let him go, Stone," said Ryder, his voice crossed between demanding and begging. "I'll do whatever you want. Just please let him go!"

"_I wanna talk to Zuma." _Ryder bit his lip and activated the speaker function on his puppad so that everyone could hear and reply. _"Zuuuuma? Are you there?"_

"… yes," whimpered Zuma, shaking with fear.

"_It's been so long, buddy. How are you feeling?" _asked Stone, looking at the screen as did Zuma.

Growling, Zuma shouted, "Don't call me _buddy! _You're a murderer and a monster! You killed my family and now you're trying to kill my friends! _**I HATE YOU!" **_

"_And I could care less," _said Stone as he looked at Marshall and held the phone to him. _"Want to say anything to your comrade?"_

_"Zuma! It's not your fault! You-_"Marshall was silenced by a smack to the face which made the others growl at this.

"You're dead, Stone! Hear me?! I swear when I get my teeth on you…" growled Chase.

"_I'm guessing that's, Chase? Marshall's best friend? Oh, don't worry. We'll have plenty of fun copper, but first, let's start the first round of the games, shall we?" _asked Stone, looking at the screen with a sinister smile. _"Rules are simple. Do what I say or else Marshall here gets a world of pain. Refuse to play…" _drawing a pistol from his back pocket it he aimed it at Marshall who did his best to struggle away but was still tied down. _"And black and white boy here will be covered in red."_

The others gulped at the thought of a single wrong move could spell disaster for their friend. Still, refusing this was not an option.

"Okay, we'll play…" muttered Ryder.

Stone clapped his hands with joy. _"Wonderful. Let us start with the youngest. Rubble? Are you there?"_

Rubble gulped as Rocky and Chase patted him on the shoulder. "Y-y-yes M-m-m-mr. scary man sir."

"_Heh, scary man. Adorable,"_ whispered Stone as he shook his head. _"You have a jackhammer, right? At least that's what Marshall told me."_ He patted the dalmatian on the head who started whimpering.

"Yeah, what about it?" asked Rubble, raising an eyebrow.

"_Well, another thing that Marshall also told me is that he's seen Zuma collect sea shells… and it's not hard to see why when his sister's name was Shelly…"_

The group all looked at a gasping Zuma. Upon hearing this, Stone smirked. _"I take it you collect them in her memory. Well, memories are made to be forgotten."_ He walked over to the end of the screen and everyone's eyes widen as they saw a metal bat in his hands. Slowly walking over to Marshall, who had pissed himself in fear again, he lightly taped his bruised legs which made the fire pup wince in pain. "_I want you to smash all of Zuma's sea shells or I'll smash this doggie's legs."_

Zuma did his best to keep his tears from leaking but they were there for all to see. He did gather sea shells so he could make them into necklaces. Just like his sister did when she was alive. He had a bunch of them in his puphouse and he shined every one of them. He had hope that one day he would go back to Coastal City and place them at her grave.

But seashells, no matter how memorable, were nothing compared to Marshall's safty. "Rubble… get your puppack. I'll be back…"

"Zuma…" whispered Rubble as Zuma slowly walked towards the elevator and took it down.

A few minutes later, he returned with a small bag in his mouth. Rubble was already dressed in his gear while the Ryder had the puppad pointing to Zuma. Stone was watching on the screen of his own phone, apparently wanting to watch what happened. When he arrived at the middle of the room, Zuma dumped the bag, revealing all of the seashells.

"Wow… they're so beautiful…" said Skye, eyeing at them with awe.

"_Yes, yes. But now I believe Rubble has a job to do… or would you rather me practice my swing?" _asked Stone, lifting the head and poking Marshall's head much to his annoyance.

Rubble, holding his breath, looked to Zuma who stared at the seashells for a few minutes before he closed his eyes. "Just get it over with, Rubble."

Rubble slowly nodded. "I'm so so so sorry, Zuma." He turned to his puppack. "Ruff… jackhammer."

Rubble turned on his jackhammer and brought it down upon the seashells. They stood no chance against it as they were crushed into pieces one by one. Zuma shut his eyes even harder as Ryder, giving the puppad to Shaw, came over and picked him up, letting him cry on his shoulder. In a few minutes, it was done. As soon as he was done, Rubble ripped off his puppack and threw it across the room in disgust with not just it, but himself.

Rocky looked at a crying Zuma and then at Stone who was smirking at the whole thing. "You're a monster and you're going to hell."

Stone just shrugged. "_Well, that was an easy game. Let's go a bit harder. Now who should go next…"_

"Just let Marshall go already! We did your stupid game!" shouted Skye, growling.

Stone glared at the screen with such coldness that Skye quickly lost her anger and shuttled back. _"I take it that the bitch who just talked was Skye? Well, thanks for volunteering. I was going to save you for later, but you'll have to do."_

"Wait!" shouted Chase standing in front of her. "Leave her alone! Let me-"

Chase didn't even get a chance to finish as Stone took his metal bat and smashed it as hard as he could on Marshall's left leg, making him howl as a horrible cracking noise filled the air.

"_**MARSHALL!" **_shouted everyone.

Stone raised his bat, now covered in blood, at the screen despite Marshall's bloody screaming. "I am in control here. Not you. So shut the fuck up and _sit down!" _

Chase backed off, his eyes never once leaving Marshall as his best friend began to sob and whimper from the pain of his now broken leg. Rubble had turned away and began to cry while Ryder was doing his best not to fall to his knees. Everyone else was just pale and unable to speak.

"_Now, Skye," _said Stone as he walked over and grabbed a chair to sit on. "_This is your game." _

Another person, masked, walked over and placed a box near Stone before walking off. Opening it, it was revealed to be a box of bunnies. _"These little critters you should know very well, Skye. They're the same bunnies that you brought to that nice little home after that incident with that Japanese farmer."_

Skye gasped as she saw the cute little bunnies poke out of the box, sniffing around out of curiosity. She had visited them almost on a weekly basis to play and hang out with them. "How… how did…"

"_Remember that time you took Alex to play with the bunnies. Well he told me so much about how you liked them, I decided to see what would happen… if they were to burn…"_ said Stone as he pulled out a gasoline can and started dumping it all over the box.

Everyone's eyes widen as a single thought came to their heads. _He wouldn't…_

Upon seeing a lighter appear in his hands, Skye screamed, "No! No!" she rushed over to the tv screen and began banging on it. "No! Don't hurt them! Please!"

The psychopath only smirked as he dropped the lighter into the box and everyone gasped. Skye screamed in denial… only to see that no flames were erupting. "Huh?"

"Not… gas… water…" whispered Marshall, hissing through the pain.

Stone chuckled before going into a full blown laughter. _"Oh man! You should have heard your voice! Oh, that was rich."_

"Motherfu…" whispered Shaw.

Skye sighed in relief, but that soon faded when Stone reached down and grabbed one of the bunnies. _"Now let's play the real game. I'm going to ask you a question and you have to is answer it correctly. Get one right and a bunny goes free. Get it wrong…"_

SNAP!

Skye screamed. Marshall screamed with her. Chase rushed over and held Skye down as she tried to fight her way into the TV, tears in her eyes. Shaw cursed his mouth off while Ryder held a crying and guilt ridden Zuma. Rocky felt like he was going to throw up. Rubble proceeded to do so.

Tossing the dead bunny away, Stone picked up another and held it by the neck like the other one despite its struggling. _"Well, you get the idea. First question, and no helping anybody, why am I doing this?"_

Despite her hysterics and tears, Skye muttered, "Revenge…"

"_Against?"_

"… Zuma…"

Stone smiled as he let the bunny go, who rushed out upon seeing how dangerous the human was. He picked up another.

"_What were the names of Zuma's family that I slaughtered?"_

"Shelly… Greg… and Marsha."

Another bunny was let go.

"_How many people have I killed?"_

"I… I…" Skye began to hyperventilate as she saw the bunny in Stone's hands stare at her. "… a hundred?"

SNAP!

"NOOOO!" screamed Skye as Stone didn't waste any time and got another one.

"_What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"_

"What does that have to do with anything?!" shouted Skye in fury.

"Eh, nothing. I just always wanted to ask that," he confessed before snapping the bunny's neck.

On and on he went asking questions, sometimes a bunny would be spared. Other times a bunny would lose their life. At the very end, Skye was drained to the point where she had tear marks all over her face and Chase was forced to keep her steady.

"_And last question. Do you know that Chase has a certain… feeling towards you?" _asked Stone, grinning. The room went quiet as everyone stared at Chase and Skye who were looking at each other with wide eyes. _"Marshall here told me quite a lot about you two. And how a certain police pup is head over paws for you…"_

"_I'm sorry…" _whispered Marshall as he lowered his head in shame for betraying his best friends. _"I'm sorry…"_

"_Now Skye. I want you, with the entire town of Adventure Bay watching, to say what you truly feel about Chase,"_ said Stone, rubbing the last bunny's neck with his thumbs. _"And I already know how you feel thanks to Marshall. So I will know if you are lying."_

It was if the whole world had just suddenly gone silent. Everyone knew that Chase had a crush on Skye, it was obvious to all. For a long time they had though that Skye either didn't know or kept her feelings to herself better then Chase did. _But apparently Marshall knew, _thought Rocky, wondering what other secrets that Marshall had told Stone while in pain. _He'll probably use my closeness to Zuma or my past with my old owner against me… but he doesn't know about… that…_

Rocky had never told anyone, not even Ryder about his other secret that had to do with his owner. The one that haunted him to this day.

"I…" said Skye, shutting up Rocky's thoughts. She looked into Chase's eyes and whimpered. "I'm sorry, I don't… feel the same way you do, Chase." Chase's expression was heartbreaking as he just sat there, his eyes folding as far as they could go. "I'm so sorry, Chase. I know you have… feelings for me, but you're just a good friend. And I didn't want to hurt your feelings like this. I… I'm horrible…"

Skye lowered her head in shame but it was soon lifted up by Chase who gave her a smile. "It's okay… you're still special to me, Skye. Even if we're just friends."

"Chase…" whispered Skye with a smile as she hugged him. Despite the grim situation, the rest of the gang couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"… _well that was boring,"_ muttered Stone as he toss the bunny away and let it hoped away from the carcass of it's dead friends. _"I was hoping for some pain and rejection, but you pups really are a bunch of fairies aren't you."_

"No, we're all friends. We're a family. We look out for each other and love each other," stated Chase as he stared at the screen with a growl. "Something a monster like you will never understand."

"_Friends are only good until they stab you in the back for their own gains. My family featured a crack whore mother who left when I was four and a lazy father who did nothing but drink until I killed him. Friends and families are a joke. Looking after yourself? That's reality,"_ said Stone as he got up. He pulled out a second gun, this one a revolver but it was very small. _"Of course, some people are just born lucky to have such things in this world. What about you, Chase? Are you lucky? Luckier than your mother?"_

The room went ice cold as everyone except a confused Shaw were now looking at a shocked and yet also angry Chase. There was a reason why german shepherds were feared for their anger as much as Dobermans. The look in Chase's eyes was like he was seeing blood red and his teeth were shining bright for a kill.

There was only one taboo in the entire world when it came to Chase and that was to never _ever _mention his mother. Noone ever asked about it, mainly because Chase refused to say anything. The only two who knew were Marshall, who was all but his brother, and Ryder.

"Don't. You. EVER. _TALK. __**ABOUT. **__**MY MOTHER!" **_shouted Chase as he continued. _**"You will not speak of her and I swear I will kill you! I will hunt you down and I will rip your head off before stuffing it up your ass!"**_

The sight of Chase's anger only made Stone's smile grow. _"Oh, does the rest of Adventure Bay know?"_

"_Stone… don't!" _shouted Marshall, sobbing as hard as he could. _"Chase, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"_

But Stone didn't listen. _"Sgt. Miranda of the NYPD Canine Unit. Married with three sons and two daughters, but strangely never one of them named Chase. Respected among her peers and fellow officers for being a by the book cop who always did her duty. Received multiple rewards for acts of valor and bravery. I bet you wanted to follow in her footsteps, am I right? But then again, that's all you know of her."_

Chase lowered his head and growled, tears threatening to fall.

"_One day, during her rounds, she separated from her partner to take a leak. She was ambushed by a gang of dogs who used her for their… own pleasure…" _said Stone with a grin.

"Chase…" whispered Skye as she and the others stared at Chase, realizing why Chase refused to say anything about her parents. They had only assumed they died and he became an orphan. But this…

_Chase…_ thought Zuma. _I'm sorry, this is all my fault…_

"_When it was revealed she was pregnant, she felt broken from what happened and resigned from the force. Ashamed of what happened to her. She gave birth to four pups, but couldn't stand to look at them,"_ continued Stone. _"Something inside her broke. She killed each of them except for one… you. For some reason she couldn't kill you. Disgusted by herself she took her own life. And thus ended the career and life of a great cop who died a puppy murderer and shamed her family."_

"Oh god, Chase," whispered Rocky who went to hug his friend only to be pushed away.

"_Her family never wanted you after what happened and put you in an orphanage. How did it feel when you learned the truth?" _

Chase didn't say anything at first, but then he looked up with hollow eyes. "When I heard my mother was a cop and had a family in New York I thought I was going to find happiness when Ryder took me and Marshall to the city when we learned of my origin." He stomped his paw. "You have no idea what it was like to find out you were the result of such a horrible crime that caused your mother to go insane. To break up a family that hates your very existence. To see such injustice…" However, he then stood up straight. "However, that inspired me to one day become a cop like my mother. To make sure no one else goes through what she did. I want to make her proud, despite what she did I still love her. She is the reason why I am a cop. And the reason I fight for justice and saving people. I will never let what happened to me happen to another person as long as I live. And I swear, Stone, you will go down for what you have done to my friends."

Stone rolled his eyes and took the revolver and placed it on the table. With it he took a chocolate candy bar and a dog biscuit. He put a cup over each one and smirked. _"Well, that was a very interesting story, but back to my first question. Are you lucky?"_

He then made his back face the camera as he covered the three cups. Already the gang could see where this was going, but were unable to see what cup he was switching with what. When he was done, Stone revealed the three cups simply untouched, but chances were they had been moved around.

"_If you pick the cup with the dog biscuit, Marshall will eat that and live. The chocolate one, and he feeds on that. And I've always wanted to see how a dog reacts when they eat one," _he said to Marshall when he said this, that said pup looked ready to faint. _"And if you pick the gun? Well…" _He pointed his finger and thumb and the screen and made a "bang" noise. _"So pick, Chase. Marshall's life is in your paws."_

Chase bit his lip as he stared at each cup. The entire room was silent. Chase only had a 1/3rd change of getting it right.

He had to, or Marshall was done for.


	16. Stone's Game Part 2

_**AN: Alright, warning you all right now, this is going to be a very dark chapter. This is a chapter that I hate to write because I really like Marshall so much, but I have to do this. I swear if I get on TV tropes for this I bet all the tropes will be the dark ones. **_

_**Some people have wondered how Stone got all this info for the pups and why some "games" are crueler than others. Well, the first one is easy. He forced it out of Marshall painfully. It's already been hinted in the show that Marshall isn't the best when it comes to keeping secrets (See Pups Turn On The Lights). Second, the reason why some are crueler than other is that he's doing the best kind of pain not only to Zuma's friends but to Zuma as well.**_

_**Enjoy the chapter**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol**_

* * *

If one could see into the homes of every person in Adventure Bay you would see them all waiting on the edge of their seats to see what choice Chase would pick. Two out of the three would lead to only worse situations for Marshall. The odds were against him, and Chase had to pick without a clue of what to do.

Back in the Lookout, the said German Shepard Pup was looking at each of the three cups with narrowed eyes. A part of him wanted to start panicking, but he kept his cool and tried to think of his best friend's life at stake. If he was there at the scene, he could sniff out which was the dog treat, easily.

_One in three shot. Come on, Chase, _he thought as he took a deep breath and decided on a leap of faith. "The middle one."

"_Well, let's see…" _said Damian Stone as he walked up to the table and put his hand on the cup. "_Last chance to change your mind?"_

Looking around, the pups and humans inside the building all started at Chase and nodded to him. Thankful for their trust, he looked at where Marshall was on the screen. "Marshall… I…"

"_It's okay… I trust you…" _said Marshall, giving a bloody smile.

A small smile decorated Chase's lips before he put back his serious face. "The middle one."

Everyone held their breath as Stone slowly lifted the cup… and revealed it to be a doggie treat.

"Oh, thank god," sighed Ryder in relief as did the other pups.

"Way to go, Chase!" congratulated Rubble which made the police pup blush.

"_Fine, deal is a deal. Have it," _said the criminal as he rolled his eyes and tossed it at Marshall. Having not eaten since he was capture, the dalmatian bit it with joy. However, after a few tastes of it he gagged and spit it out.

"_Ugh, it's so old!" _grumbled Marshall.

"Hey, there are starving puppies in Africa who would kill for that kind of treat," scorned Stone before signing and shaking his head. "_Okay, so this hasn't gone exactly as I had planned…" _He chuckled. "I guess the kid gloves are coming off… Ryder?"

Ryder froze up when he heard his name being called and gulped.

"_Do you love your dogs?" _asked Stone, slowly pulling out his knife and opening it.

"Yes…" whispered Ryder.

"_Have you ever had to discipline them at times? Physically?" _asked Stone as he flipped Shiva in the air.

"No. Never," said Ryder with a growl. He would never lay a single hand on his pups in physical abuse.

"_Well, I've always found that sometimes to discipline your men you have to get physical… and you Ryder, are going to kick the dog as it were,"_ said Stone as he walked over and lifted his knife.

Before Ryder could ask what he mean, he screamed as Marshall started screaming upon feeling Stone's knife dig into one of his paw's toes. Everyone was screaming and crying as Stone slowly began to saw Marshall's left rear paw's toe off with his knife. Marshall's cries echoed so loud across the speakers even those down stairs could hear him. Zuma held his paws over his ears and screamed for it all to stop

"Stop it! Stop it! Mommy! Mommy!" shouted Zuma as the memory of Marsha, her fingers being taken one by one, echoed in her mind. When the toe finally came off and the blood squirted out, Zuma lost all sense of control and fainted.

"Zuma!" shouted Rocky as he rushed to his side and held him. "Zuma! Buddy! Hang in there!"

"Wocky... please make it stop..." cried Zuma into his chest. Rocky held him close and gently kissed him on the forehead. He didn't even care if it looked weird, he just wanted his little brother to be safe.

_Please... don't let him suffer... don't let another one I care about suffer..._ begged Rocky, as he closed his eyes and prayed. He tried to push away the images of another pup in his life he once loved very much, but stopped thinking about him out of guilt. _I can't fail another... not again..._

When it was over, Stone took some cream he had on him and pressed it against Marshall's toe, making the dalmatian whimper as his face was covered in tears. He leaned his head back and whimpered as Stone patted him on the head. "_How does that feel, Marshall?"_

"_I ... I want... I want Ryder..." _blubbered Marshall, who's toe lay on the floor.

"And here is what I want from Ryder," said Stone, staring at the camera as he inched closer. "I want you to kick Zuma. _Hard." _This got everyone's attention. "_I want you to keep kicking him each time I say so. If you fail to do it, or if it's not hard enough, Marshall loses another toe each time."_

Ryder felt like he was going to be sick. Kick one of his pups? One of his best friends? He couldn't do it. It was wrong. Wrong on all levels.

"Wyder..." whimpered Zuma as she slowly got out of Rocky's embrace and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and nodded. "Do it... kick me..."

"Zuma, no!" shouted Skye.

"You can't ask me to do this!" shouted Ryder.

"_I don't want Marshall to die!" _screamed Zuma, as he glared at his friends and owner. "I don't want to lose him! If I have to get hurt for him to live then fine! I don't care! I'd rather suffer a million times then lose another loved one!"

"_... Zuma... don't..." _moaned Marshall.

"Just do it, Ryder! _NOW!" _screamed Zuma.

"_Tick tock, tock tick. Shiva's getting hungry for more blood," _said Stone, waving his knife around.

Ryder clenched his fist so hard that blood was drawn. Shaw, still holding the puppad for STone to see, placed his hand on Ryder's shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. "Noone will think less of you..."

Closing his eyes, Ryder muttered, "I'm sorry, Zuma." And he rushed forward, his leg swooping forward.

Zuma shouted in pain as he felt Ryder's foot make contact with his rips. He sailed across the room, before landing hard, wincing in pain. Stone only laughed at the sight and clapped his hands. "_Again."_

"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch," said Rocky as he saw Ryder walk over and kick Zuma again, this time even farther across the room. Zuma hacked out some spit before wiping his muzzle.

"_Again."_

"Damnit! Isn't this enough!" shouted Ryder in fury, only to regret it as Stone frowned and made his way towards Marshall again. "No! Wait! Stop!"

"_Too late."_

Marshall screamed again as a toe from his other rear paw was removed. Slowly the knife tore the flesh and into the bone and yanked it off with a sinking twist. Marshall screamed so loud that the pups had to cover their ears. "_Help me! God, please help me!" _

"_There is no God, pup," _said Stone as he whispered into his torn earn. "_But there is a Devil. And he made me."_

"_... pplllllleeeeaaasseeee..." _begged Marshall as a small trail of urine dripped from his seat.

Stone only shook his head with a smirk before turning back to the camera. "_Again."_

Ryder wasted no time. He hit Zuma again and again. Over and over. They were all helpless as Zuma was forced to take blow after blow, but all of them were hurting from it. Including Ryder. For ten minutes, Zuma felt punishment to his ribs and was forced to eat the ground with each kick. His teeth were grinding in pain so much that he could have broken them all from the intensity alone. A small trickle of blood dripped from his nose as he felt the bruising in his ribs like fire inside his chest.

Ryder had been crying non-stop. For him, this was the worst betrayal to a pup who he gave everything to after losing it all. There would be no forgiveness for this in his mind. Forever more would he hate himself for this day until he died.

The pups all knew that Ryder was not to blame. He loved them like family. He would never hurt any of them on purpose. All this did was make them vow to take Damian Stone down by whatever means necessary.

Rocky felt his heart torn with each kick. For even one moment, he wanted to attack Ryder and just take Zuma away from this. Away from this pain, Paw Patrol, and Stone. For one split second he didn't care about anyone but Zuma as his heart began to race again. _Why... why do I feel this way when it comes to him?! He's like a brother to me but... but..._

But what if it was more?

"_Stop. That's enough."_

Everyone sighed in relief upon hearing this. Ryder instantly ran to Zuma and hugged him. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." sobbed Ryder as he held onto Zuma as gently as he could.

"It's... okay... Wyder..." moaned Zuma, who was barely conscious.

"_Well, that was enjoyable," _said Stone with a smile.

"Goddamn, psychopath! I should have shot you all those years ago!" shouted Shaw. "I swear, the first thing I do is put a bullet in your head! Procedure be damned!"

"_I cannot wait,"_ said Stone, crossing his arms in amusement. "_But we still have more games to play first."_

"Haven't you done enough?!" shouted Rubble, crying his eyes out. "We get it already! Just stop!"

"I said, we're not done yet," issued Stone as he got up and rubbed his chin. "Now I believe there was one more pup who had to go before Zuma... oh yes, that little loud mouth known as Rocky."

Rocky gulped as he heard his name, but stepped forward with a growl. "Whatever sick game you have planned. Just bring it already."

"_Oooh, quite brave aren't you?"_ asked Stone with amusement. "_From what Marshall told me, you and Zuma are quite the best friends? Am I right?"_

"Yes," muttered Rocky.

"_Good..." _said Stone as he took out his gun and aimed it at Marshall. "I want you to start insulting your best friend. Tell him he's pathetic. Tell him he's a failure of a brother. That all of this is his fault. Marshall's suffering. That kid's trauma. His family's death. All of it is his fault.'

Rocky slowly turned around and stared at Zuma who was curled up in Ryder's embrace, like baby trying to escape the horrors of the world. He saw Zuma... his Zuma.. suffering like this... and he couldn't do it.

"No."

Everyone turned around and stared at Rocky who stared at the screen in defiance. Stone blinked in surprise before growling. "What?"

"I said no. Screw you," said Rocky, sitting down. "I'm not going to do it."

STone fired the gun near Marshall and missed him just barley. The pups sighed in relief upon seeing him unharmed. "I said I would shoot him. You this gun is fake? It's not!"

"I don't care..." whispered Rocky, lowering his face. "You can hurt my friends. Hurt me. Fine. But you will not, under any circumstances, force me to hurt Zuma."

"Damnit, Rocky!" shouted Chase as he rushed over and growled at Rocky's face. "This Marshall's life we're talking about!"

"... I'm sorry..." whispered Rocky, closing his eyes. "But I just... can't..."

"_... Well, its looks like he's dead then,_" said Stone as he aimed the gun.

"... but I can give you something else."

Stone stopped before he could pull the trigger and raised his eyebrow. "_I'm listening."_

"... what if I was to reveal my deepest secret... for all of Adventure Bay to know..." whispered Rocky, lowering his head in shame. Tears were dripping down his eyes as the one pup he never thought to utter in his mind again came to him. _I'm so sorry, Ryan._

"_If you're talking about your abusive owner, Marshall already told me about that," _snorted Stone, rolling his eyes.

"That's only half of it..." said Rocky, getting everyone's attention. "... there is something I never told anyone. Not even Ryder knows, but I'm done hiding..."

"Wocky?" asked Zuma as everyone focused on the Recycling pup who bit his lip.

"... you guys remember when I said he almost drowned me and I played dead to escape?" asked Rocky, as he slowly turned to his friends and gave them a sad smile. "I lied... it wasn't me he drowned... it was my little brother, Ryan."

The entire room was silent. Rocky felt a huge relief escaped him as every pup looked at him with wide eyes. Stone was even lowering his gun as he listened in. "My brother... we're only a two years apart... but he was the world to me. For a long time it was him, me, and my owner. A perfect family. When my owner lost his job it all came apart. My entire world came crashing down as my ower abused us. He... hurt us... insulted us... I can still feel his beer bottles smashing into my fur..." Rocky lowered his head as memories of horrible times began to appear in his mind. "Have you ever had to watch your little brother, your best friend, just ask why your owner was so mean? Why he didn't love you anymore? I tried to tell him this would fade, but even I knew this was a dark reality we ended up in."

"Rocky... don't speak... anymore..." whispered Zuma, but Rocky ignored him.

"One day... he was drunk... so bloody drunk... my brother couldn't take it anymore. He told him off for what he was... a loser and a hateful man. He didn't take it well..." Rocky was now openly sobbing. "My b-b-b-brother... he was dr-r-r-raged by that man... and into the tub... t-t-the water was s-s-s-so hot it was burning him... _burning him!" _screamed Rocky as he could hear the screams of pain, the smell of burnt fur and scalding flesh, the futile attempts of Ryan trying to free himself.

"He begged... b-b-begged me to save him... he screamed s-s-so loud..." Rocky fell to his stomach and sobbed. None of them had ever seen him sob so much. "_**BUT I DID NOTHING!" **_

He jumped and screamed, "I did nothing! I didn't save him! I didn't speak! I just sat there and watched in horror as my owner drowned my little brother! I could have done something, but I didn't! _I LET HIM KILL MY BROTHER BECAUSE I WAS A COWARD!"_

Rocky let out a scream before falling silent and taking deep breaths. Everyone stared at him with pity and tears, even Shaw had a tear in his eye. "That night... I buried my brother in the backyard... and I got the police... and that's my story... that's everything..."

Before Zuma even knew it, he was rushing out of Ryder's hand and wrapping his paws around Rocky. Rocky who always let him cry on his shoulder. The one who was always there protecting him. Who had just let himself open up the harshest wounds he had just to spare Zuma...

Now for once, Zuma was going to comfort him. He let Rocky cry on his shoulder, comforting him. Letting him know he was there. Rocky held nothing back. Years of guilt and self-torment finally unleashed after so long. _He's the same... _thought Zuma as he closed his eyes. _He's the same as me..._

A small series of claps got everyone's attention as Stone slowly put his hands together and shook his head with amazement. "_Wow... that has to be one of the saddest stories I have ever heard...I really liked it... although the drowning in hot water idea is something I need to try out in the future."_

"Your sick..." muttered Rocky.

"_Hey, be grateful that I'm letting you pass because that story really caused you pain... but not it's time for the final round!" _said Stone as he whistled to his men on the other side of the camera.

_Does he ever stop?! _growled Zuma who wanted nothing more than to take that knife and shove it down his throat.

Zuma's anger was soon replaced with fear as he and the others saw a big stomached woman in her early thirties, tied and gagged, get dragged into the screen via wheelchair by an masked man. She was struggling against her bonds and crying tears of fear as she stared at the camera.

Stone reloaded his gun as he twirled it around. "_This is Macy Hinder. She's about 34 years old. Married... and is due if four months."_

"Oh my god," whispered Chase, as Skye buried her face into his chest in fear. "Is there no end to his evil?"

"_Now, Zuma,"_ said Stone, getting his attention. "_You have a choice to make."_ He pointed the gun at Marshall who was staring at the woman in concurn. "_Either I kill Marshall..."_

He then aimed it at the expected mother. "_Or I kill Macy and her unborn baby."_

He smiled as he turned to the camera. "_You have to choose who will die."_


	17. The Choice

_**AN: If you haven't seen by now, there is a sequel to be made by Matthais Unidostres**_ _**called Everest's Fear which will take place sometime after this story and focuses on Everest who can see ghosts and is being haunted due to the events of the past. I originally had no plans to do a sequel myself, Matthais was very interested in doing one so I decided to let it happen. Is it gonna be canon? Eh, I'll let you decide that for yourselves. **_

_**Also some important news. I'll be doing Farewell Marshall again. Thanks to Brian4Life, I managed to come up with a new story plot for it and I'll be working on that again when I finish Truth or Dare. There is also a three story epic planned after Zuma's Fear that I call "Paw Patrol Unity: The Return To Duty". More on that another time.**_

_**As for finding a possible comic artist to draw a comic version of Marshall Gone Missing, I have found one person possibly, but I've given them a test to see if their art style is something I can work with. Also again, this is gonna get really really really dark at the end.  
**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

"_All teams report in."_

"_Red team standing by."_

"_Blue team standing by."_

"_Gold team standing by."_

Surrounding a large warehouse were nearly twenty different SWAT officers and six patrols of police officers hidden in other locations. Nobody was taking any chances and were equipped with heavy weaponry and armor. Detective Shaw had ordered an immediate trace on the broadcast as soon as it aired. Once they got a hit, Shaw secretly ordered an entire force down to take Damian Stone and his sick show.

Prepped up in front of windows and doors, the SWAT officers waited for the command signal to get inside and clean the place out. _"All units be advised," _said their commander in charge of this operation. _"We have hostages in there including a woman with child. Securing the hostages is priority one. Taking down the assailants is number two. Shoot to kill is permitted, but be careful where your aiming. All units ready?"_

"_Ready."_

"_Ready."_

"_Ready."_

"_Okay… GO GO GO!"_

Doors and windows were smashed as smoke grenades were let loose into the building. Seconds later, SWAT officers stormed inside, checking every location and making sure none of them were about to be targeted.

"Police! Hands in the air! Hands in the air!" shouted officers as they swept the place. The smoke began to die down as each of the units readied themselves for a fight. However, there was nothing. No bodies, no gun shots, not even a camera.

While other units searched the rooms and upstairs railings, the leader of Gold Team saw something on a table that made him curious. It was a computer, showing the broadcast, connected to what looked to be a transmitter. Realization soon set in that made the Gold Leader curse. _"Command it's a dead end! I found a transmitter connected to a computer. My guess is that he made it so that the broadcast was bouncing off this transmitter in case we tried to trace his signal."_

"_Understood, keep searching for anything else. We'll see if we can get a team to trace where the transmitter is blocking."_

The Gold Leader sighed and was about to issue orders to his men when he saw a new screen appear on the computer. It was a timer. It started going down as he narrowed his eyes and suddenly a horrible thought came to him.

"Everyone out now!" he shouted as loud as he could. The SWAT officers didn't waste any more time and quickly exited the building as fast as they could. When the timer reached zero, a set of explosives went off inside and blasted the warehouse apart. Officers were thrown back from the explosion and a few screamed in pain as rubble and shrapnel entered through their armor.

In less than a minute, the entire warehouse was on fire.

* * *

Stone's cellphone rang and he quickly opened it and smirked. _"Well, nice try, Shaw. But it looks like your police friends found my little gift to them."_ Shaw didn't say anything as Stone twirled the gun around, sometimes aiming it at Marshall or the pregnant lady. _"I figured you'd guys would try to trace this call, so I set up a transmitter to reroute the signal and fool you guys into thinking I was someplace else. Of course, it was all for nothing. I'm not even in the Adventure Bay area if you must know."_

Shaw cursed and clenched his fist in rage. "You can't hide forever, asshole. We are going to get you one way or another."

_"The only reason you managed to catch me the first time was because of that pup. And speaking of which,"_ said Stone as he leaned forward, Zuma instantly leaning back despite a television screen blocking them. _"What's it going to be Zuma? Who is going to die? Marshall? Or Macy? The puppy? Or the soon to be mother?"_

Zuma felt as if he was Altas and how carried the entire world in his paws. Marshall was one of his best friends and a member of Paw Patrol; his family. He couldn't live with himself if he let him die like this. And on the other paw, this was an innocent citizen. He took a vow to always protect them with his life if need be. And she was pregnant. A child was also at risk and might never see the light of day before it was even born.

There was no winning scenario in this. A single choice and Zuma would forever be haunted by it.

"You have about ten minutes to make a decision. Be right back!" said Stone in a singing voice before the screen went blank.

There was a long silence in the Lookout as nobody said anything but stare at Zuma who was staring at the blank screen.

Shaw sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I have to go check up on my men… Zuma," Zuma turned around and stared at him. "I… I'm sorry…" With that said he made his way back to the elevator and took it down.

"We're… We're not gonna sacrifice Marshall… are we?" asked Rubble, tears in his eyes. Nobody said anything. "We can't just let him die!"

"And what, we just let a pregnant woman also die as well?!" shouted Skye in fury. "For god's sake, it's a baby that's also at risk!"

"But Marshall is our friend! He's part of our family! We cannot just allow him to die like that!" screamed Chase before rushing to Ryder. "We have to do something, Ryder! _Anything!" _Chase howled and stomped his paw. "I won't lose my brother to that maniac!"

"Chase…" whispered Ryder as he bent down and hugged the crying pup. "I don't want to lose him either… but it's not my decision…"

They all turned to Zuma who was still frozen in shock over what he had to do. Chase growled and glared at Zuma with disdain. "This is all your fault. Because of you… Marshall is…"

Once again a life was going to be lost because of him. Because of him. _Because of me, _thought Zuma.

Rocky stood in front of Zuma to protect him from Chase's glare. "Chase, don't you even dare. This is not Zuma's fault!"

"Well, why should we have to suffer because of him?!" shouted Chase, tears in his eyes. "All we've been through in this nightmare is because of him! If he wasn't here-"

"I understand how angry you are, but Zuma is our friend as much as Marshall is!" shouted Rocky getting into his face. The two pups were growling at each other and looked ready to come to blows. "I'm not letting you hurt Zuma any more the he already has!"

"Chase, stop," said Ryder, getting both pups attention. "Fighting over whose is at fault is not going to help matters. We all know who to blame for this and that is Stone."

"But… but… "Chase whimpered. "Ryder… he's my best friend…"

"And he's ours too, Chase," said Skye, walking over and nuzzling him. "We are all worried about him. But don't you think Zuma is facing the worst of this?! He's the one who has to make the decision."

Chase slowly turned to Zuma who was looking at him with fear, like he was expecting the German Shepard to rip his throat out. Upon seeing the terror in his eyes, Chase gasped and lowered his head in shame. "Zuma… I'm… I'm sorry…."

Zuma didn't say anything, he just stared at the floor as Chase continued to whimper in guilt. Soon enough the TV came back on and Stone was there, smiling and waiting.

"_So, Zuma,"_ asked Stone. _"Have you made a decision?"_

"Stone, you-" started Rocky, but he was silent the moment Stone pressed his hand against the safety and clicked it.

"_No, Zuma speaks. No one else."_

Zuma trampled and a few tears dripped down his eyes. He looked at Marshall, his friend who had gone through hell, and Macy who was looking at the screen with such pleading eyes. There was also her belly, and how inside it was an innocent child. How could he condemn either of them to death? _Why me? God, why do you do this to me?!_

"_Zuma…" _

His attention as grabbed as everyone looked up and saw Marshall raise his bloody head and, despite his suffering, smiled at the pups. _"It's okay… you don't have to make a decision… because… because I've already decided… it's me who should die."_

The pups gasped. "Marshall, no!" shouted Zuma in fear. "You can't say that!"

"_I won't… allow an innocent… to die because of me… I'm telling you to do this… choose me. And let me die instead of her," _struggled Marshall as he stood up tall and gave his usual smile. _"I am a member of Paw Patrol. My duty is to the people I am supposed to protect. With my life, I will serve all others until my duty is done one way or another. That is the vow I took. That is the vow we all took. We are Paw Patrol. Our duty to the people comes first… even before our own lives."_

"M-Marshall…" whimpered Zuma, who knew that deep down he was right. They had to save the civilians first. It was their duty.

"No…" whispered Rubble as he shook his head in denial.

"Buddy…" said Chase, tears in his eyes.

"_It's okay, pups," _said Marshall, despite his tears he still held his smile. _"I… I lived a good life… even if it was short…I wish we could have had more fun together, but I'm happy to have met you all." _He took a deep breath. _"Ryder? You're the best owner ever. In a way… you were like the father I never had… I'm proud to have been your pup."_

"Marshall… you're a good pup… always have been…" whispered Ryder, holding back his tears as long as he could.

"_Chase… you're the brother I never had. I'll always been watching over you."_

Chase stood tall and saluted Marshall. "I love you so much, Marshall."

"_I love you too, Chase," _said Marshall as he continued. _"Skye? Sorry about spilling your secret. I always thought you were cute, you know?"_

"Marshall," whimpered Skye as she dived into Chase's hooves and held her as she cried.

"_Rubble, all my Apollo stuff is yours. Take care of it. Especially comic issue #16. That's gonna be worth a fortune one day."_

"Please don't die, Marshall! Please don't die!" screamed Rubble as he fell in a blubbering mess.

"_Rocky… take care of Zuma. I'll say hi to your brother for you when I get to those pearly gates."_

"I will… thank you, Marshall," whispered Rocky as he put his paw on Zuma's shoulder. "I'm actually gonna miss you spraying me with your water cannons."

Marshall chuckled a bit before he closed his eyes. _"Zuma…"_ whispered Marshall as Zuma stared up at him. _"I know you might be thinking this is your fault. It's not… don't ever blame yourself. We love you. And I know your family doesn't blame you. I want you to promise me that you'll keep on fighting no matter what. That you'll save lives and still be a Paw Patroler…"_

"… I pwomise…" nodded Zuma, who hunched over and covered his face with a paw.

"… _I'm ready... goodbye…" _said Marshall who closed his eyes and prepare for his end.

"… kill Mawshall…" whispered Zuma who felt sick just saying those words.

Everyone of Paw Patrol soon came together in one hug, all watching the final moments of their comrade, their friend, the family member Marshall as Stone got off from his seat and smirked. _"Alright then."_

He aimed the gun at Marshall who didn't show any fear on his face. He had accepted this as his final act of duty. The rest of the team watched with tears in their eyes, prayers in the hearts, as they and all of Adventure Bay silently saluted the bravest pup any of them had ever seen.

"_Oh, wait,"_ said Stone with a realization as he pulled the gun away. He then slowly turned to the camera. _"I forgot that it is opposite day!"_

Marshall's eyes opened with horror as he turned around and screamed, _"NOOOOOOO!"_

Screams echoed across the town as Stone aimed his fun and fired round after round into Macy's head and belly. The pups all screamed, the loudest being Zuma and Marshall as Macy's blood sprayed across the room and even onto the camera. Marshall continued to scream even after sixteen bullets went into Macy's hole of a corpse. There was nothing left of her face, and her stomach was torn open.

Both Skye and Rubble had fainted at this point, Zuma just about to as Rocky held onto him and made him turn away from the blood. He felt his friend piss himself in fear, but Rocky didn't care. He was just about to do it himself. Chase lost his lunch and his cool as he began cursing every word he knew. And Ryder. Ryder just stared at the dead citizen.

_"You bastard! How could you! You monster! I'll kill you!"_ shouted Marshall, rage in his eyes and tears dripping down his cheeks. _"I'll kil-"_

He was silenced when Stone knocked him out with the butt of his gun. Stone looked at the dead former pregnant woman and then at Marshall before looking towards the screen. _"Zuma? This? All this blood and madness? This is going to continue. This will not stop unless until I have taken everything from you."_

He reloaded his gun and aimed it at the camera._ "Thanks for watching. Goodnight."_

He shot the camera and it all went static.


	18. The Aftermath

_**AN: I actually expect more reactions from the last chapter. I mean the ones I got were what I expected, but eh, thought there would be more. So yeah, we're around the half way point of the story by the way. I think I successfully made Damian Stone the best villain in our fanfiction community for Paw Patrol. Sorry if I sound a bit prideful in saying that but I think it's kinda true. **_

_**Anyway, sorry to all Chase x Skye fans about not getting them together. I hope I make it up with the Zuma x Rocky romance. **_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

For the first time in history, Adventure Bay was quiet. Even for a small town such as this one, there was always some bustling activity going on. But there was nothing. Even a graveyard was more cheerful then this. The only activity going on was a funeral for a deceased woman and her unborn child that was attended by only a small margin. Even those close to this woman were too scared to go out.

A new wave of emotion had taken over Adventure Bay. An emotion that scared all the tourists, frightened children in their sleep, and even made husbands and wives go out to buy stocks of supplies and guns before locking their doors.

Fear.

Utter fear of one man who walks with the reaper himself.

It had been three days since the "TV Horror Show" as some called it. Every TV in Adventure Bay had played it while others from outside of the town saw it from a video on the internet that had made itself a global wide hit. Now all of the world knew of the monster that was Damian Stone.

As for Marshall, he had been found alive but critical injured in a warehouse in Foggy Bottom. Mayor Humdinger didn't even put up a fight when the Paw Patrol strolled in. He may have disliked Paw Patrol and Adventure Bay, but he wasn't a monster. The doctors did their best to fix Marshall up, most of it would take time to recover such as healing scars, regrown his fur, and other such aspects. Thankfully, his toes were able to be saved as well and were stitched back in.

Mentally… was a different case.

The first thing Marshall did when he woke up was scream. Even after his friends and owner tried to calm him down, he just screamed and cried until they sedated him. This kept going for a full day until he just stopped and stared blankly with something Shaw called "The Thousand Yard Stare". A psychologist was called in and, after a long session, he concluded that Marshall was traumatized by what he went through, but was also feeling guilty for not being able to save the mother and her baby. In his mind, he should be dead. Not her.

He rarely ate or spoke to anyone. The only thing he ever asked from Ryder was Mr. Snuggles, who he refused to let go of once he got him.

Chase, holding flowers, gave them to a nurse who quietly went into Marshall's room and placed them in a vase. The German Shepherd whimpered as he saw his best friend zoning out with lifeless eyes at the wall. The TV was on, even showing Apollo The Super Pup, but he ignored it. All he did was hold on to his teddy bear and mumble to himself occasionally. It was like looking at a shell of the once happy and joyful dalmatian he loved like a brother.

"How is he?" asked Skye who had come with him to visit with him.

"The same…" growled Chase as he punched the wall. "I swear I will kill him… I'll find Stone and make him pay."

"Save some for me," whispered Skye, equally growling which somewhat shocked Chase but he hid it.

"Never seen you for the violent type," said Chase.

"Everybody has a limit," said Skye as she turned and walked away. "Do you think he'll be okay."

"Marshall's stronger then you think," said Chase as he followed her. "He'll come back… one day he will…"

Exiting the hospital, the two pups walked through the empty streets feeling a cold shiver down their spines. The only thing around were seagulls and trash. "It's so empty," said Skye, whimpering. "It's like Adventure Bay became a ghost town."

"People are scared, not that I blame them," said Chase with a heavy sigh. "I can't help but feel we're failures, Skye. We're supposed to protect these people and yet here we are with one member traumatized for God knows how long. And… well... then there is Zuma…" Both Skye and Chase lowered their heads as their ears went all the way back. "I wish I never said that I blamed him."

Skye shook his head. "Hasn't he suffered enough? To lose his family, and now all this? I guess I can't blame him for locking himself up…"

"I'm actually more worried about him then Marshall to be honest," said Chase, biting his lip. "All of this can't be good for his mental health… I'm worried he'll try something…"

Skye gasped and turned pale. "You think he'll… try to kill himself?"

"… I honestly don't know, Skye. I pray he doesn't… but I think that's what Damian's trying to do," said Chase, shaking his head. "You heard what he said. He's not going to stop until Zuma has lost everything." Face darkening, he turned to Skye with a worried tone. "And that means we're all on his hit list."

Skye was quiet and thought to herself silently for awhile before she took a deep breath. "Rocky will save him."

"Look, I trust Rocky since he's close but-"

"Chase, he's in love with him."

Chase's mouth dropped as his brain had to temporary shut down and boot up again upon hearing this. It took him a full minute to finally say something. _**"WHAT?!" **_shouted Chase which echoed for miles due to the silence.

Giggling for the first time since… forever. Skye nodded. "Trust me. I know. It was easy to see your feelings for me, it's not that hard to see Rocky's."

Chase blushed upon hearing Skye mention his feelings. While the pain of rejection had faded he still wished that there was a chance for them. _Maybe one day she'll change her mind, but anyway…_

"I know Rocky cares about Zuma that much, but isn't it more like a brotherhood thing like me and Marshall have?" pointed out Chase. "I mean, with that whole issue with his little brother… you would think…"

"Maybe it was like that at first, but its evolved," said Skye, continuing her walk. "Trust me. A girl knows when someone's heart is smitten by another. Even if they don't know it yet."

"Rocky and Zuma, huh," said Chase, scratching the back of his head before he caught up with his friend. "I mean I'm not against the idea, but… just would seem so weird."

"Why? Because Rocky's older?" asked Skye.

"No, because Zuma loves water and Rocky always writes a will every time he's going to take a bath."

* * *

He still didn't come out. It had been three days and Zuma refused to come out. He didn't come out to eat or anything. And so Rocky stayed there, right outside his pup house. He had his meals delivered and slept just outside with only a blanket. The only time he ever left to use the bathroom or when Ryder needed him for an update. Nothing else matter. Not the rest of the pups or even Marshall.

All he cared about was Zuma.

Every second he didn't see him or have him in his paws was a second too much for him. He knew the chocolate labrador was suffering. More so then ever. Stone had finally done it, he had broken Zuma. What happened to Marshall, that civilian, to all of them. Zuma had blamed himself for everything. That scared Rocky more than anything.

He knew what it was like to be there. He knew what it was like to go down that route. It happened to him when Ryan died and it was happening again with Zuma. When he went to the orphanage that took him, Rocky had been just like Zuma. Alone. Guilt ridden. Lost in despair.

And Rocky was prepared to kill himself the day just as Ryder saw him and picked him up. He had it all planned out. Just a simple toaster in the bath and that was it. A fitting end for him who let his brother drown by that bastard of an owner.

But the very day he was going to do it he met Ryder. Through Ryder he found a purpose to live again. He found friends. A new family. He found Zuma.

Rocky believed that someone was looking after him that day. A sign to say that no matter how dark life gets, light will shine a way through it. Zuma was drowning in darkness, and Rocky was determined to save him best friend by being that light.

_Not just because he's my best friend… but because I love him, _thought Rocky as he closed his eyes and felt his heart beat. He put his paw on his chest and smiled softly. Rocky wasn't stupid. He knew what he was feeling for Zuma and felt no shame from it. He was in love with his best friend. He didn't know if the events of today had made him fall in love with him so quickly or if this always existed and he misread them as brotherly instincts. _Does it matter? He makes me feel something I never felt before. Like I want to be with him and hold him forever. If this isn't love, I don't know what is._

He didn't know what the other pups were going to think upon hearing he was into the same sex, but as far as he cared it didn't matter. Whether they accepted him or not, whether Zuma loved him or not, all that mattered was keeping the most important pup in his life safe.

"Rocky?" asked a voice that made the mixed breed turn around and spot Rubble heading over. "Ryder wants to speak with you."

"Okay, watch over Zuma for me, will you Rubble?" asked Rocky.

After getting confirmation from Rubble, Rocky made his way into the Lookout, ignoring the joint task group that was hard at work. Damian Stone was off the grid and the more he was missing, the more worried everyone was.

When he made it to the elevator, he took it up until he was up on the top of the tower. Rocky walked over to Ryder who was looking at his pup pad. When Rocky came in, he put it away and asked, "How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"And Zuma?"

"…"

Ryder sighed and crossed his arms. "I've talked it over with Detective Shaw and the others. There isn't a point sending you pups off to different owners. We need to be together now. More than ever." He then narrowed his eyes and turned to the computer, activating a few windows that popped up some schematics. It didn't take Rocky long to read them and have his eyes widened. "Is that…"

"Yeah, this was originally going to be something I build for you pups when you got older… but due to the circumstances I can't take a risk," said Ryder as he turned and faced Rocky. "Chase and Marshall are the only ones who know this, but Paw Patrol wasn't originally my idea. It was my parents. The government hired them to build an all dog task force to counter attack terrorism. My parents started on the project, but it was shut down due to the funding being sent to drone development."

Ryder pointed it out the initials. "Hound Assaults of Various Organized Combats. Aka H.A.V.O.C."

"So these schematics are the original blueprints for the pup packs," said Rocky, noting the seminaries.

"Yes, but they were incomplete," said Ryder. "I want you to help me make these, Rocky. Six of them for you six to use. If Damian Stone is going to go this far… then we need to go just as far to stop him."

Rocky nodded. "I understand, but…" Rocky bit his lip and sighed. "Zuma… I'm worried about him…"

Ryder nodded and handed over his pup pad to Rocky. "Here. Use the unlocking feature. I think its time all of us had a long talk. Zuma can't do this alone. So he need us more then ever."

Rocky barked in agreement and happily took the pup pad, racing down to the elevator and taking it down. When he go to the pup house, he ignored the confused look on Rubble and found the setting to open up the pup houses. Pressing the button, the door slide open and Rocky went in, itending to hug Zuma or even be prepared for some back lash. What he got was worse.

He got nothing.

As in Zuma wasn't there.

Terror began to grip into Rocky's heart as he looked around Zuma's house for any sort of sign of where he was. He stopped when he saw something that made him freeze up. It was a note

_Goodbye._

Rocky rushed out as fast as he could, past Rubble, past others, right to the front of the yard where he tried to find any sign of his love. But there was nothing. He... was gone.

_**"ZUUUUMMMAAAA!"** _


	19. One Story Ends, But Another Begins

_**AN: Yup I am back. I finally got my laptop back, and I am so ready to update the living crap out of my two stories. I finished both of them in the same night so both this story and Truth and Dare have been updated. If you watch that fic too, go check it out.**_

_**During my little laptop problem I typed two one shots on my phone and put them up on the site. If you haven't checked them out, feel free to do so. They are, "Everest Finds A Mate" which is pretty much an Everest x Marshall fic. And "Until The End And Evermore" which is a sad Marshall and Chase brotherhood fic.**_

_**There is also something important about this chapter that you should know, but you will see at the end. Let's get started.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Paw Patrol.**_

* * *

Stone calmly read the paper that had announced that Zuma was missing. It had been the headline news for the past few days and, despite the efforts of so many, he was still lost. Stone smile as he put the paper down. "I won."

"Won, boss?" asked one of his men who was eating a burger from a fast food place.

"Zuma's dead. Or at least he will be soon," said Stone as he got up and flipped open his knife, tossing it casually into the air. "That pup's gonna kill himself if he hasn't done it already. I won." He sighed. "And yet... I am going to miss him. He was so fun to play with and even more fun to break. But I guess he's flipping burgers now with that family of his in oblivion."

"So what are we gonna do? Go after the rest of the Paw Patrol?" asked another of his gang.

"No, I think it's high time we all left Adventure Bay and focus on a big score I have planned for us all," said Stone, wagging his knife like a finger. "But before we do that we need to reestablish some of our power. And that's why we're going to meet up with some old friends in Costal City. Back your bags boys, we're going home."

* * *

Chase watched as the sun set with Rubble by his side as the two watched the last of the task force put up its equipment and head out. Damian Stone had been spotted leaving the Adventure Bay area. Some said he was leaving because he had enacted his vengeance on the missing Zuma. Others were saying he was just planning out his next sick move.

Either way, the task force was moving and with it Detective Shaw as well. He had given his goodbyes and promised to keep an eye out for Zuma. None of the pups had such hope. In fact... hope seemed to be the last thing on anyone's mind.

With two of their team down, Ryder had no choice but to temporary stop Paw Patrol until Zuma was found and Marshall recovered. Both of which nobody knew was going to happen.

"Is it really the end of Paw Patrol, Chase?" asked Rubble, whimpering as he watched the sun sink like his heart in his chest. "I thought... we'd be doing this forever, you know?"

"We're still Paw Patrol, Rubble," said Chase, firmly. "And we will be a team again. I promise you."

Rubble didn't say anything, he just slowly turned his head to an empty spot in the vehicle line up. "Rocky's going to come back late tonight isn't he?"

"Most likely," whispered Chase, lowering his head upon thinking of his mixed breed friend. Every day and nearly every hour was Rocky doing everything he could to find Zuma. He refused to give up, even after Ryder ordered him to stop for the sake of his health. But Rocky refused to do so, even threatening to quit permanently if Ryder forbid him.

"... do you think the rumors are right?" asked Rubble, whimpering. "Do you think... Zuma is dead? That he killed himself?"

Chase didn't answer... because he didn't want to give an answer.

* * *

Rocky gasped for breath as he rose his head from out of the river in the forest. He had struggled as hard as he could without another break, but even he needed to drink water. As the water dropplets fell down his dirty and messy fur, his bloodshot eyes slowly looked towards the sinking sun.

He remembered how many times him and Zuma used to watch the sun set over the ocean from their favorite spot in the Lookout. He could feel his touch as the two nuzzeled together in friendship and brotherhood, enjoying the silence that came with the blessing view from nature.

He would give anything in the world to have just a single second like that again.

"Zuma... where are you... please come back to me..." whispered Rocky as he felt his eyes beginning to mist again.

"...I love you..."

* * *

The sunset was beautiful thought Zuma as he stood over the edge of the waterfall. He had traveled many days to reach this place. It was a special nature reserve that Ryder took him and the pups one time to find a lost wolf cub seperated from its pack. They had managed to find it and played with the wolves which were very friendly to the pups.

He choose this place to be his resting spot for one main reason. This was his first job as a member of Paw Patrol. The cub had fallen into the river and Zuma had to rescue him, making his first rescue since his sister, Shelly.

_Shelly... Gweg... Mawsha..._thought Zuma with a small sad smile on his face. He was going to see them again soon. _It's best this way... I died when they died in that shack all those years ago...and now my fwiends are being dwagged into a living hell with me..._

He knew if they found out they would never forgive him for this, especially Rocky. He knew it would break their hearts... but at least they would be safe. Stone would leave them alone once he was dead, this was something Zuma was sure about.

Trembling, he slowly made his way towards the edge of the cliff leading to the sharp rocks at the bottom. A few more inches and this was going to be over. No more nightmares. No more fear. No more guilt. No more blood. No more death.

Well, except one more.

_I can do this..._ thought Zuma as he inched closer. He closed his eyes as tight as he could. _I can do this... do this for them! Do this to meet your family! __**Do this because you want this pain to end already!**_

He lifted his paw for that final step...and stopped half way. Gritting his teeth he tried his hardest to force his muscles to move but they refused. _Do it! Do it! JUST LET IT END ALREADY PLEASE!_

And yet he couldn't move... he couldn't...

Falling to his haunches, he cried. He wailed. He sobbed. And he screamed. He cursed himself and everything else in the world. He let this continue well into the night as he sat there in the forest alone.

_Why... why can't I do it... why?_

"Looks like some part of you still wants to live."

Zuma gasped as he quickly turned around, but saw nobody. "W-who is here?! Have you been spying on me?!"

"I have been watching you for a few hours now. I was curious to see if you would jump or not, but it seems that the spirit still lives inside of you. Despite the overwhelming pain you carry in your soul," said the mysterious voice.

"W-what do you know?" asked Zuma, growling.

"I know that simplly looking into your eyes you are as defeated as they come," said the voice, slowly peeling Zuma away. "You are afraid. Your fear controls you. In you fear lies guilt. Though guilt shame. And through that shame your desire to end it all. But killing yourself is just another means to run away. And in death will your fear continue to haunt you."

"... you have a better way?" asked Zuma, whimpering.

"... I might... you are a curious one. You are not a wolf, but yet it's clear that some part of you wants to life. The spirit is still there, even if it is just embers... perhaps you simply need guidance to make it a raging inferno."

"Who are you?!" demanded Zuma.

From the shadows under the trees, a white wolf slowly appeared before Zuma. So large was this wolf that he could have easily eaten Zuma in three bites. The pup gulped as he slowly smiled at Zuma.

"I am Oriel. And I will make your fear become courage."

* * *

_**The End of Zuma's Fear**_

_**To be continued in Zuma's Courage**_

_**Yup. I'm stopping the story here with a planned sequel to come out some time in the future. This has always been part of the plan. The team is at their lowest and Stone is at his highest. How will they all come back united and once more as a team? How will hope rise in the face of such fear? How will Zuma regain his courage?**_

_**You'll have to wait to find out. Thanks for everybody for watching and reading this. Hope you come see the sequel when it's ready in the future.**_


	20. Zuma's Fear Lyrics

_**AN: This is just some lyrics I came up for the story based on the opening of Future Diary. I don't own that or Paw PAtrol  
**_

* * *

**_"Perduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim eas, quae misericordiae tuae maxime indigent."_**

**_Amen._**

**_Thantos. Hades. Cichol. Yama. Azreal. Freyja. Anubis._**

**_Dis Pater. Soranus. Samuel. Namtar. Aita. Mot. Shiva!_**

**_In the darkest deeps of my dreams, lives a bloody past that I've feared_**

**_From the darkness, he smiles with cruelty, swing his blade like a reaper's scythe_**

**_All I love is cut to pieces, who will help me once again find light?_**

**_God is a cruel being indeed to let such evil live…_**

**_Come on, 1,2,3,4,5 It's time to go on a roll!_**

**_Come on, 6,7,8,9,10 it's time to dive in!_**

**_Say your prayers, and never given in. As you play a twisted man's…_**

**_SURVIVAL GAME!_**

**_Face your fears… or die…_**

**_Thantos. Hades. Cichol. Yama. Azreal. Freyja. Anubis._**

**_Dis Pater. Soranus. Samuel. Namtar. Aita. Mot. Shiva!_**

**_In order to erase the past… we must be prepared to face it now_**

**_Oh dear pup, you have had such a hard life. All your nightmares are coming true._**

**_Now's the time to stand up with friends. The reaper now is coming for you._**

**_God please save him from drowning in his own fear and blood…_**

**_Come on, 1,2,3,4,5 It's time to go on a roll!_**

**_Come on, 6,7,8,9,10 it's time to dive in!_**

**_Say your prayers, and never given in. For you carry the lives of those…_**

**_WHO CARE FOR YOU!_**

**_Face your fears… or die…_**

**_(Violin and Bass solo with Latin chanting)_**

**_God is a cruel being indeed to let such evil live…_**

**_Come on, 1,2,3,4,5 It's time to go on a roll!_**

**_Come on, 6,7,8,9,10 it's time to dive in!_**

**_Come on, 1,2,3,4,5 It's time to go on a roll!_**

**_Come on, 6,7,8,9,10 it's time to dive in!_**

**_Say your prayers, and never given in. As you play a twisted man's…_**

**_SURVIVAL GAME!_**

******_Face your fears… or die…_**

**_As you fall further into darkness, your scream shall give him strength._**

**_But beyond all the darkness lies a paw that reaches out and_**

**_Becomes your savior_**


	21. 1-7-17

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Paw Patrol. Lyrics are based off of "Voodoo Doll" by VIXX.**_

* * *

**_Born from a tragic heart that is aching. _**

**_Lies a darker strength born from the bloody making._**

**_Can you devoid your fear? Can you get rid of your tears?_**

**_Innocent blood in pain, just like the act of Cain._**

**_Know that, your time, is coming up._**

**_To face, your fate, hiding in the dark._**

**_It's time to unleash your rage, rip free the chains and cage._**

**_Take everything from him, just like he took from you._**

**_Tick Tock, Tick Tock, the time has finally come._**

**_Torn between life and death, you have suffered enough, dear pup._**

**_Only one's death shall it end today, from your claw or from his blade._**

**_Unleash your courage now, and face your enemy._**

**_It's either life or death, so choose your destiny._**

**_There is no more turning back, do it for love or payback._**

**_Tick Tock, Tick Tock, the time has finally come._**

**_To become a monster, you must be become prepared._**

**_To lose away the feelings of those you once cared._**

**_Sacrifice your love, sacrifice your joy._**

**_Shed away the past, the former you must pass._**

**_Shutting your heart, you've become a beast._**

**_Your pain, and tears, are now released._**

**_But, what have you lost forever?_**

**_The bonds you treasured most are now severed. _**

**_Tick Tock, Tick Tock, the time has finally come._**

**_Torn between life and death, you have suffered enough dear pup._**

**_Only one's death shall it end today, from your claw or from his blade._**

**_Unleash your courage now, and face your enemy._**

**_It's either life or death, so choose your destiny._**

**_There is no more turning back, do it for love or payback._**

**_Tick Tock, Tick Tock, the time has finally come._**

**_Should I love? Should I hate? I do not know._**

**_Should I love? Should I hate? I do not know._**

**_Yeah, open the gates of burning hell,_**

**_time to ring the judgement bell,_**

**_blood and tears are all that remain,_**

**_nightmares of doom and acts of pain._**

**_All that remains of my soul, is a empty shallow hole,_**

**_nothing can save me, just let me be._**

**_Let my courage set me free._**

**_No longer do you smile, no longer you give laughter._**

**_All that you once had, you run from ever faster._**

**_Even though, deep down, you still cry for the ones you love._**

**_In the end, there will come a time, when you must decide._**

**_Will you let your last chance of happiness die?_**

**_The choice is yours in the end, will you choose love or revenge? _**

**_Tick Tock, Tick Tock, the time has finally come._**

**_Should I love? Should I hate? I do not know._**

**_Should I love? Should I hate? I do not know._**

**_The time has finally come._**

* * *

**_"Zuma's Courage"_**

**_By HavocHound_**

**_1/7/17_**


End file.
